The Shattered Mirror
by ParadiseAvenger
Summary: For SakuraSyaoranLiTsubasa. Twins wrought calamity and were killed at birth. The lady seperated hers to protect them. The midwife placed a curse on hers to save them when she was murdured. AU. Adult themes. SyaoranXSakura.
1. The Curse of the Twins

Please, check out my first ORIGINAL NOVEL! The Breaking of Poisonwood by **Paradise Avenger**. (Summary: People were dead. When Skye Davis bought me at a slave auction as a birthday present for his brother, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like, but I had never expected _this_. It all started when Venus de Luna was killed and I was to take her place, to become the new savior… Then, bad things happened and some people died. In the heart of the earth, we discovered the ancient being that Frank Davis had found and created and used to his advantage. The _Poisonwood_—)

For SakuraSyaoranLiTsubasa, thank you so much for the base idea.

X X X

The village of Clow was little and old-fashioned. It was settled in the bosom of the mountains where the air was chill and thin. A crystal clear blue river ran like a trailing finger through the cleft of the mountain and down through the valley where the little village nestled. The waterwheel of the big inn turned continuously, generating power for the bakery in the basement and the doctor's office in the lower regions of the inn. A deep well was dug upstream from the inn. It was where everyone drew their water from. There was a bathhouse between the well and the inn for common bathing.

Big cherry blossom trees bloomed all around the valley, ringing the village like a faerie circle. Pink petals swirled on the summer breeze and gathered on the surface of the clear pool at the edge of the village. Next to that pool lived the old witch, Hiruka. She predicted the birth of all the children in the village and was sometimes more popular than the doctor for common ailments.

The lord and his lady lived in the big manor high on the mountain, looking down over the pheasants with care and concern. The eyes of a fussy parent and their eyes were even more watchful of their _single_ beautiful daughter. The lady's biggest secret was nothing so dark as an affair, but much much worse. She had borne twins, but only Hiruka and the woman she had given the other babe to knew her terrible secret. As far as her husband knew, Sakura was his _only_ daughter.

Superstition reigned in the small village, not coy silly little rumors, but great and terrible truths. Twins brought only calamity, horrible awful disasters. A flood had come and washed away the entire northern half of the little village when the midwife birthed twins. A great fire swept through the crops when the blacksmith's wife had twins. In a faraway kingdom, a queen birthed twins and the entire land fell to ruin. And the lady of the little village had borne _twins. _

To save herself, her husband, and her babies, she separated them at birth. The first borne was kept, as was her right if she had not given birth to twins, but the second was secreted away with the woman, Setsuki, the weaver in a neighboring village of Runes. Runes was easily reachable, even in the dead of winter, through a winding tunnel that carved through the mountain.

Sakura grew up as a princess in the manor in Clow, untouched and unsoiled by her terrible birth, learning and studying a lady's arts. She was a beautiful girl. Her hair was short and fine and the rich buttery color of caramel. Her eyes were jade green and fringed by long thick lashes. Her features were fine and aristocratic, very distinguished. She had many proposals from young men in the village, but her parents had promised she would never be pushed into an arranged marriage. Sakura wanted adventure and excitement, but most of all she wanted true love. And she wanted to find it herself.

Ying-Fa grew up in the weaver, Setsuki's, hut in the village of Runes. She was a quick study and soon learned to patch and sew. Then, when she was twelve, she apprenticed herself to the village doctor. She learned many things and became the village's best nurse. Often times, children stopped her on the cobbled streets, crying and begging for a little spot of gauze for a bloodied knee or scraped elbow. She always smiled and obliged them. Ying-Fa was very beautiful, but for some strange reason, her mother insisted she dye her hair and paint her face. Her natural caramel-colored locks were dyed a thick dark blue-black and she painted her petal-pink soft lips a whore's bright red. Regardless, several of the boys pined for her attention as much as they did the lady's daughter, Sakura.

X X X

Across the village of Clow, on the far side, a great distance from the lord's manor on the mountain was the workhouse. In it were all the village's petty criminals and homeless scum and thieves. It was a dark cold building, a cesspool of puss and bile, drowning in filth and muck. It was on the river, downstream from where the inn's waterwheel was, the deep well where the entire village drew its water, and the grime of the bathhouse from. Even their drinking water was thick with filth of the bathhouse and blood from their own problems.

With a sneeze, Syaoran woke from his restless sleep. Something was touching the side of his face, crawling and scuttling. He wiped away a spider and crushed it under the heel of his hand. Its legs gave a few tremulous dying twitches against his palm. "Syao?" he whispered in the dark of the room.

Syao was already awake, sitting up on the thin worn mat. His shoulders were naked, lightly freckled in the darkness, and shiny with perspiration. The threadbare blanket was heaped in his lap, draped over his knees and pooling at his sides. He turned to face his brother and his amber eyes glowed in the dark.

For a moment, the brothers stared at each other. They each saw their own faces. They had the same golden glowing eyes and curved full lips and stubborn dedicated set of the jaw and translucent unmarred skin and dark chocolate tresses unkempt and mussed with work and sleep and even the same bruises on their handsome faces from the most recent beating they had received. It was like looking into a mirror.

Twins…

Syao and Syaoran had not been separated at birth. They were the midwife's children. She along with her husband had been killed for bearing such monsters, but with her last breath she put a terrible superstitious curse on anyone who harmed her babies. Terrified and superstitious, the villagers placed the twins in the workhouse with the criminals, content to work them until they breathed their very last breaths. It was the bane of all twins that no matter how terrible life was for them together, they always wished to be together. Apart, something vital was missing.

Syaoran was shy and gentle. He wished to learn and travel, to heal and help people. He wanted to unearth the ruins buried in the side of the mountain, the tips of great wings over the entrance of a deep cavern, he believed. Archaic things fascinated him. The thought of history made wonders glow behind his eyes.

Syao, on the other hand, was bold and fierce. He practiced swordplay with several thieves to the point where he was almost impossibly powerful. He wanted to slaughter the people that imprisoned and hurt him and Syaoran just for being twins, for existing.

They were polar opposites.

Twins brought calamity, terrible suffering, just because they lived.

It was unfair and horrible.

Then, Sakura fell ill and, by default, the twins were blamed.

X X X

The young girl caught a treacherous sickness. Her pallor was waxy and ghostly pale and there was a constant sheen of sweat on her brow. Her green eyes were glazed with fever and had sunken deep in her sockets. Her lips were chapped and bleeding, split and cracked at the corners. Her entire body was wasting away, shrinking and folding in on itself. She grew sicker day after day and it seemed there was no hope for her survival.

Desperate, the lady of the manor went to the witch, Hiruka's, hut near the crystal pool at the outskirts of the village. Hiruka was a scraggly old woman. She wore an aged fur coat that was torn and stained with sand. Sometimes, the corner of her eye twisted like a crooked pin and her hair was greasy and hung lank around her face.

"Please, Hiruka-sensei," the lady begged. "Sakura-chan, she's so sick! What can I do to help my daughter?"

Hiruka was sitting in her creaky old rocking chair, sewing something around her wrist that looked like a spiny wreath of briars. "It's the twins," she said and that was all she said.

The lady interpreted it how she wished and it happened to be incorrect. She returned to the manor and told her husband what the old witch had said and he immediately order Syaoran and Syao to be brought to the manor. While all this happened, Sakura only grew more feverous, sicker.

X X X

Syao was sitting up, feeding wood to the chipper and shielding his face with his arm. Splinters were wedged into his exposed palm and much of his forearm. Syaoran was at the other side of the machine, taking away the buckets of shredded wood as they filled and turning the crank to chip up the wood.

Suddenly, there was commotion in the workhouse, but they didn't hear it over the hissing and grinding of the wood chipper.

Syaoran didn't see the blacksmith grab Syao by some of his dark locks and haul him away. He only suddenly realized that no more wood was going into the machine.

"Syao?" he called and peeped around, expecting to see his twin dying from a hunk of wood that had exploded from the chipper. But the instant he peeked around the machine, a shovel struck him hard in the face and he fell into darkness.

X X X

Syaoran woke up on the hard marble floor of the manor. His mouth tasted sour and bloody. Syao was tied to a chair beside him, conscious and looking terribly dangerous. There was blood on his snarling mouth and his hands were clenched into fists. Before Syaoran's eyes, his twin lashed out at the bonds that held him. The chair creaked and groaned at the raw power in him.

"Syao," Syaoran whispered.

Syao stilled and turned to look at his twin. "They think it's our fault the girl is sick," he snapped.

"What?" Syaoran whispered. "But we didn't–"

"It doesn't matter. We're twins," Syao growled.

The lord of the manor came tromping down the stairs. The girl, Sakura, was a thin white shadow in his arms. She was wrapped in a pink and white silk quilt and some of her caramel hair was hanging over her father's arm. She looked like death, a beautiful corpse, a vampire. "This is your fault, twins," he said meanly.

"No," Syaoran protested and tried to sit up. His head swam and he crashed back down, smashing his face on the marble tiles. He groaned in pain and tried to sit up again, hoisting his slender body up on his twig arms. "We didn't do anything to the girl."

Syao lashed out against his bonds again.

Sakura groaned and whimpered in her troubled sleep.

The lady came down the stairs behind her husband and laid a hand on his arm. She was a glowing beauty in a dark blue velvet gown with all her dark wavy reddish hair cascading down her back and over her shoulders. "Charles," she murmured.

He shook her hand off his arm and adjusted his daughter in his arms. "Shut up, Cleo," he snapped. "They did this to my baby!"

"Charles!"

"I want them destroyed!"

Syao broke free of the chair. He destroyed the entire chair, actually, just tore it apart with pure strength. He leaped from the ruins of the chair and dashed forward at the lord and the lady and managed to get off a single blow on the lord. His fist caught the lord in the jaw and set him backwards into Cleo. They landed in heap on the stairs.

Sakura fell from his arms and bounced down the staircase in a flurry of pink and white silk. The quilt fell from around her shoulders and tangled in her legs. Syaoran rushed to gather her in his arms before she smashed into the marble floor. She groaned and her eyes fluttered.

"Syao!" Syaoran shouted as his twin once again leaped at the lord.

The lord smashed Syao away and then, without a second thought, he leaped from them and barreled to Syaoran's side. He grabbed his twin's arm and yanked him to his feet. Sakura's head lolled against his chest and he refused to set her down.

"Stop, Syao! You're going to hurt her!"

There was gunfire.

Hot blood splattered across the side of Syaoran's face. Syao lurched backwards, clutching his shoulder.

"Syaoran! We have to go! Now!"

Syaoran gathered Sakura against him and whirled to follow his twin. Cleo slammed into his back, shrieking and screaming. She tore at his face with her fingernails, trying to wrench Sakura from his arms. Syaoran stopped to grapple with her, trying to get the girl into her arms quickly and escape with Syao.

Two more shots cracked off in quick succession.

"Syaoran!" Syao shouted, but Syaoran hadn't been shot. Syao took the second and third bullets to his upper thigh and chest.

"Go, Syao!" Syaoran shouted. "Go! Just go!"

His watched his twin hesitate and then flee from the corner of his eye. Blood was a thick smeary trail behind his twin.

Cleo continued to tear at him, but he finally managed to get Sakura into her arms. She stumbled backwards, tripping on her lush gown, and finally landed in a heap with Sakura wrapped in her arms. Charles leaped for Syaoran and caught him by the hair. Syaoran's head was still whirling from the blow to his face earlier. He went down easily with a single punch to the vulnerable wound.

Darkness took him, but the last thing he remembered was the cocking of a gun and a quiet voice whispering, "Don't…"

X X X

Charles pulled back the hammer of his pistol and aimed at Syaoran's battered face. The kid groaned and scrabbled uselessly at the marble floor. Cleo was clutching Sakura in her arms. She tried not to think about how cold her daughter's body was.

Then, for the first time in nearly a week, Sakura spoke. Just as Charles was going to pull the trigger, she whispered, "Don't…"

"Wait, Charles! Sakura spoke! Don't kill the boy!" Cleo shouted.

Reluctantly, Charles lowered his weapon and turned away from the unconscious kid. "Send out the hunter," he ordered. "I want the other twin caught and killed!"

"N-no…" Sakura whispered, but the flurry of servants drowned out her voice.

X X X

Syao was running through the woods and a trail of blood marked his passage. He prayed the Syaoran would be alright, but if he had stayed they both would have been caught and killed. Apart, maybe their mother's curse could protect them. Dogs and shouts followed him as he tore through the tunnel that led to Runes. The sounds echoed in against the rocks.

His own breath was harsh and loud in his ears and the rock whipped through his peripheral vision.

The loss of blood was making him dizzy. _Don't fall, _he told himself over and over in a mantra. _Just don't fall. Keep going. One foot in front of the other. Don't fall, Syao. Don't fall. _Spots danced in front of his eyes and his world tilted. He stumbled… and fell and in that instant the dogs were on him.

X X X

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	2. The Two Brothers: Dead or Alive?

Sorry it took me so long to get the second chapter up. I was busy with a one-shot and watching copious amounts of old Scooby-Doo movies. I have decided that Shaggy and Scooby must have been druggies and Fred was a hippy.

Chapter 2!

X X X

Kurogane had worked for Lord Charles for more than a year. He lived in the manor with a team of servants and was the village's top hunter. Kurogane had brilliant crimson eyes and thick dark hair that hung like a curtain in his face. His mouth was set in a perpetual grimace. He was a big man with little care or compassion in him. Only the magician and cook, Fai D. Fluorite, had wormed his way into the hunter's heart. Angrily, he admitted that his midnight trysts with the blonde did mean a little something to him.

When the butler pounded on his door and demanded he come downstairs, he put down his glass of scotch and the knife he had been sharpening only grudgingly.

Downstairs, Sakura was wrapped in her pink and white quilt and her mother's arms. There was a young man crumpled on the floor beside her. One of his arms stretched out as if to help her. His chocolate hair was tossed across his face, disguising his features twisted with pain. There was blood and a blossoming black-purple bruise on his face.

Kurogane recognized him by his skeleton frame and pale never-seen-the-sunlight skin. The kid was one of the twins, one of the midwife's cursed twins. Which one though no one could ever be sure of? Syaoran or Syao?

The hunter stormed over to Charles. "What?" he snapped.

Cleo was sobbing, cradling her sick baby in her arms. She knew in her heart this was the curse of the twins, the calamity, finally catching up with her. Sakura would perish due to this illness and nothing her husband did would save her. Killing the midwife's twins wouldn't help.

Charles pointed a finger at the fallen unconscious kid. "I want you to find and kill the other twin!" he ordered and brandished his pistol in a useless but very warlike fashion. "Or else I'll kill _you_ myself."

Kurogane scoffed, but went to fetch his gun, crossbow and quiver, and leather overcoat from the hall closet. Fai, looking pale and icy, blonde and beautiful, was lingering at on the steps. Surely cowering from the noise he heard in the manor. Kurogane's big hunting dog was on a thick leather leash at his side. Kurogane snatched the leash from his secret lover. Then, he stalked out the front door, letting it slam shut behind him before the butler could hustle to catch it.

Fai stared after him, incredulous. Then, he peeked inside and took in the sight of the unconscious young man on the floor. Sakura was wrapped in her mother's arms, looking for the entire world like a broken and used little doll. She was so sick.

Crickets chirped in the high crackling grass. In the distance, an owl hooted and several night birds swept through the air. A few bats were out. Twilight was falling, stretching out rosy fingers through the darkening evening sky, but there would be no trouble tracking the second twin.

There was a thick smeary trail of blood on the cobblestones. As a conjecture, Kurogane guessed the kid had been shot at least three or four times. Solid hits by the look of it. There was a _lot_ of blood. Kurogane had been shot before and he gave the kid credit just for breathing if he had been shot as many times as the blood suggested. Bullets were like chips of ice beneath the skin, plowing through flesh and shattering bones.

Kurogane adjusted his overcoat and hustled down the path of blood after his quarry. He took the big hunting dog off its leash and let the beast race ahead of him. The dog barked and howled, charging through the woods ahead of Kurogane. He heard his game panting and gasping somewhere in the gloominess of the forest ahead of him.

He seemed to be chanting something to himself. It sounded like _Don't fall. Don't fall, Syao. Don't fall…_ They charged through the tunnel that led to the neighboring town of Runes. Then, the dog was on his prey, snarling, but not attacking, just as it had been taught. Kurogane rushed to the dog's side, hauling it back by its leather collar and crouching next to his quarry.

"Fuck, you're just a kid…" he muttered. Kurogane touched the kid's exposed throat, groping for a pulse. He found one, beating weakly, but there. Muttering to himself, the hunter gathered the wounded child up in his arms and whistled for the dog. Pink tongue lolling, the dog trotted after him. "Just hang in there, brat. I'm going to get you some help…"

The kid groaned in agony in his arms and writhed.

Swearing to himself, Kurogane hustled through the dim tunnel. Blood speckled the ground behind him.

He had been to Runes a few times, chasing criminals and other such things that lord wanted him to fetch like some slobbering mongrel pup. There wasn't a spectacular array of anything in Runes since it was smaller than Clow, but there was an intelligent young girl learning the arts of healing and medicine from the ancient master. If he could remember correctly, her name was Ying-Fa. If he could get the kid to the girl, maybe…

X X X

Fai was in the kitchen, preparing some soup when the twin roused. Syaoran was bound to a chair and under Fai's watchful blue eyes. For the past few hours, his head had been limply drooped on his chest and he had been buried under the veil of black unconsciousness. Now, the young man stirred. He groaned and whimpered as he raised his head.

"Hey, you're awake," Fai murmured. The man was tall and as slender as a string bean. He had blonde hair that hung lank in his face and cool clear blue eyes, magical eyes. His skin was white alabaster and nearly translucent. "Which one are you?"

"Which one?" the twin croaked.

"Which twin, Syao or Syaoran?"

For a moment, the kid hesitated. Then, he said quietly, "I'm Syaoran…"

"Syaoran-kun, then," Fai said and added some chopped mushrooms and onions to his bubbling pot of soup.

Fai started to say something else, but Syaoran interrupted him, "Where's Syao…?"

"Kuro-pon went after him," Fai said.

Syaoran shivered. The shudder that absorbed him was so violent that his teeth chattered. "To kill him…?"

Fai felt the young man's great distress at just the thought of losing his brother, his twin. He felt physically ill and it wasn't even his brother. "Would you like a sip of water, Syaoran-kun?" the cook and magician asked kindly. "It's no trouble."

Syaoran hesitated, and then nodded.

Fai drew a tumbler of cool water and pressed the fine crystal to Syaoran's parched mouth. Any other time, Syaoran may have protested to dirtying the glass, but he was too disturbed by the eminent doom of his twin to worry much about a glass. He drank greedily until the glass was empty.

"Would you like some more?" Fai asked affably.

Syaoran shook his head and then blatantly pulled at his bonds. They held securely.

"You won't be able to get out of there," Fai said. "They're be-spelled."

"You're a magician," Syaoran said flatly.

Fai nodded and made a few archaic gestures over the soup. Instantly, the wonderful aroma of it grew stronger and sweeter. "It needs a little pepper and some bacon," Fai murmured and then busily began adding the desired ingredients.

Syaoran struggled some more, violently tearing at the ropes that held him. His head swam, still whirling with the effects of both blows to his skull. Malnutrition and exhaustion and trauma from the workhouse also weakened him greatly.

"Why am I alive?" he muttered.

Fai took it not to be a hypothetical question. "Because, Sakura-chan asked her father to spare you even through the vestiges of her illness," Fai explained.

"Sakura-hime?" Syaoran whispered.

Fai shrugged. "So it seems," he said.

Kurogane barreled into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of brandy. He drank it like it was water and then poured another. That one, he sipped quietly. His clothes were covered in blood.

Syaoran's mouth ran dry and tears swelled up in his eyes. One eye was nearly swollen shut, but the tears leaked out like crystals. His entire body heaved and trembled, but he didn't ask the dreaded question. He knew his brother, his twin, was dead.

X X X

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	3. The Healer Does Her Work

Blah, blah, blah. I'm so busy.

Suggestions for LemonGrove are just pouring in and I just got an exciting new idea from Nims!

Grr!

Must. Remain. Dedicated. To. One. Thing. At. A. Time.

I can do it! Have no fear.

Xrant overX

On with the chapter!

X X X

Ying-Fa couldn't deny that she had been surprised when the hunter, Kurogane from the Village of Clow, started pounding on her door a little after twilight. She had fallen asleep at her loom, working on a new and vibrant tapestry in orange and gold and blood red. As customary, strands of dark blue-black hair, her own, were interwoven with the brilliant threads. Waking with a start, she exploded from her dreams of a bloodied young man crawling to her doorstep. For a moment, she thought the hammering on the door was just part of the vestiges of the dream hanging around her still. When she realized that it wasn't, she hurried to open the door.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust from the warm glow of the oil lamp to the gloom of nightfall. Then, she recognized Kurogane's face and a nervous smile started to spread across her features when he shoved past her into the hut.

Setsuki wasn't home. She had gone to a neighboring village with the doctor to barter for herbs, food, and thread. It was far safer to go in a group than to go alone and the doctor had gone for more bandages and ointment against disease and scarring.

Ying-Fa was alone.

Fear spiked through her gut. Kurogane was a hunter and not a kind man.

Swallowing thickly in an attempt to unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth, Ying-Fa let the door fall shut and turned around. There was blood on the wooden floor, a thin smeary half-clotted trail.

Was Kurogane bleeding? She hadn't seen, but her vision had been spotty with the change from light to dark.

Instantly, her compassion and what she had learned from Runes' doctor overwhelmed her fear and she rushed to where Kurogane was kneeling at the pallet of straw by the hearth. He set something down with a nasty sounding thump and stepped quickly away.

Her breath stuck in her throat.

It was the bloody young man from her dream!

Ying-Fa quickly pushed past Kurogane and knelt at his side. "Bring me the lamp," she ordered when the flickering fire didn't provide enough light to see by. She felt his neck for a pulse, but the skin was icy to the touch. She ripped his shirt open and Kurogane towered above her with the lamp. The bright light showed the abuse he had suffered through. He was skeleton thin, every dip and bump visible. He was blackened with bruises and healed white scars, like a chiaroscuro painting. Sickened, she quickly pressed her flat palm over the most obvious bullet wound in his chest. Blood was rushing sluggishly and his heart beat weakly beneath her hand.

"Can I help?" Kurogane grunted.

"Stay out of the way," Ying-Fa snapped. "I need to think." She had to staunch the bleeding, had to stop the flow of blood from his body. That was this young man's only hope. If she could keep some of his life blood in his body and encourage his heart to keep beating… but she had to do it _fast_! Or else he didn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell.

Cauterize!

Swearing under her breath, Ying-Fa glanced at the fire. It was in its low rosy stage, flickering and flaring with the occasional tongue of bright flame. It was perfect.

"Hand me my knife," Ying-Fa snapped and flailed her free hand behind her back at Kurogane.

Slightly annoyed, he snatched his own blade from his belt and shoved it into her hand. She instantly thrust it into the low embers of the fire. Kurogane squawked in surprise.

"Girl, what are you doing?"

"Cauterizing," she grunted and watched for the blade to turn white-hot while groping along the young man's chilled body. There was shiny mat of blood on his thigh and a quick check revealed a clean wound there, through and through. Her thumb pushed into a second wound in his shoulder and he writhed in anguish, an animalistic moan crawled up his raw throat. She pressed her entire hand over his shoulder, effectively cutting off the flow of blood. "Was he shot?"

Kurogane grunted.

"I'm not looking at you," Ying-Fa snapped.

"Yeah," the hunter reported. "Maybe three times."

The blade began to whine.

Ying-Fa released his shoulder, fumbled about in the pocket of her skirt, produced the tweezers she used for untangling threads in her tapestry, lifted her hand from his chest, and shoved them down in the wound. The young man howled in agony and struggled against her, but she pinned his thrashing arm with her knee. Finally able to find the bullet, she gripped it and tore it out. A gush of hot blood followed her hand and she slammed it down over the wound again. She wrapped her shawl around her hand and then grabbed the knife. Then, she lifted her hand from the wound on his chest and put the white-hot keening knife flat over it.

Instantly, the scent of burning skin filled the hut and the young man lurched against her restraining arm across his collarbones. He screamed, an unearthly agonizing wail of pain and terror, loss and grief. Ying-Fa closed her ears to it and adjusted the knife so the wound burned itself closed. His chest heaved and then his scream abruptly cut off.

For a moment, she feared he was dead, but his heart was still thundering under her palm. It was skipping and stuttering with shock and pain, but beating. That was really all she could hope for.

Ying-Fa put the blade back into the fire. The smell of scorched blood mingled with the burning flesh. She gagged and tore his shirt again to grant better access to his wounded shoulder. There, she dug for the bullet and pulled it out. She paused to tie her shawl around her hand and then grabbed the knife again. She cauterized the hole in his shoulder and his body jerked and spasmed in response. Finally, she pulled the third bullet from his thigh and cauterized that as well.

The severe wound to his chest had stopped bleeding and was a swelling blackened mass of burned flesh. It would turn into an ugly scar, but his life was probably saved.

Gasping for breath, Ying-Fa sat back on her haunches. She crawled backwards to the bucket of water she kept in the corner and drank greedily for a moment. Then, she drew a second tumbler and returned to the young man's side. She lifted his head and dripped some water through his parched lips. He swallowed, but weakly.

"Is it done?" Kurogane asked and reached for his discarded knife.

"Yes," Ying-Fa panted. She watched Kurogane wipe the blood from his knife and return it to its leather sheath. "That's going to burn through," she said.

"The inside is metal," Kurogane stated and turned to leave. He was a dark silhouette, a shadow, a black creature. The hunter's many weapons gleamed in the bright flickering lamplight. He looked like a monster, but he had just brought this boy to her. He had saved a life instead of taking one. That had to count for something.

"Wait!" Ying-Fa called out. Her voice was loud and hoarse in the silence.

He paused, one hand on the doorframe, but didn't turn.

"What happened to him?"

Kurogane rolled his shoulders and adjusted his heated blade at his hip. "I was ordered to kill him. He's a twin," he said flatly, by way of explanation.

Ying-Fa gasped and whirled to stare at the young man. His chest was heaving, sweat-slick, and thick with dried blood. "Where is the other?" she whispered weakly. It was not like her to judge anyone based on superstition or fear, but she had heard too many stories of the calamities twins caused. She did not want to chance destroying the happy life she had built with Setsuki here in Runes.

Kurogane turned to face her a little sourly, but then he saw the look on her face and softened his tones. Ying-Fa was a kind and lovely young girl. She was afraid for the people around her, not for herself. "He's dead," Kurogane said and then left.

The door banged shut silently behind him, closing out the chill of the night.

Ying-Fa was alone with the injured young man from her dreams, alone with half a twin.

X X X

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	4. The Sick Girl

Blah, blah, blah. I'm really at a loss as to what to write here. I feel like I should write something, but I don't know what…

Maybe I'll gripe about how few reviews this story has gotten and the fact that Forced Silence has 99. Come on people, can't you hit 100?!

Alright, moving on.

X X X

Sakura woke in several layers.

First, she was aware of her body. Her mouth was dry, parched with feverish thirst. Her lips were chapped and cracked at the corners. Her entire body felt swollen, puffy, and her blood felt thick and clotted beneath her skin. Her feet were icy, toes so cold that she was almost unaware of them. Her fingers felt equally frozen, frostbitten, but the rest of her body was burning up. She felt a bead of perspiration roll down her temple like a tear and hang beneath her chin. More beads made slow paths down her chest and back, soaking her pajamas and pasting her caramel hair to her face. Her heart was pounding, racing, as if she had been running for her life and her chest was heaving, struggling, to draw a deep breath.

Second, was the smell in the room. She smelled her own unwashed hair and skin, sweat and some blood that may or may not have been hers. But consuming those scents and making them pleasant by comparison was the thick smoky heady incense burning throughout the room. It clogged the air and made her eyes water. Her stomach heaved with nausea. She choked and hacked and coughed. Blood was bright and splattered on her palms.

_Did that come from inside me?_ she wondered.

Third, was the imposing sense of urgency wrapping powerful fingers around her fragile sickly body. She felt that if she did not get up, did not do _something_, then something horrible would happen. She wanted to assuage that feeling and stop whatever was about to happen, at any cost.

Dizzy and weak with her fever, Sakura shoved back the covers and staggered from the bed. Her stomach heaved and she gripped the back of the chair at her bedside and tried to catch her breath. When she was able to breathe again, she ventured a few steps. Dizziness clutched her, slamming into her like ton of bricks. She wobbled and then crashed into the wall. Pain radiated through her wrists and chattered her teeth. She could feel her feet, couldn't feel her hands. She was trembling, but sweating and burning.

Her legs collapsed beneath her and she crumpled in a heap. Chest heaving to catch her breath though she hadn't gone far, she remained on the floor for several moments. Finally, she was able to raise her head without the sense of vertigo crashing over her. Weakly, she crawled to her feet and took a few staggering steps from her bedroom. In the hall, she paused to steady herself.

The urgency was mounting inside her, pounding like an incessant drum in her head. It was racing as fast as her heart, thundering. She couldn't hear anything over that sound. The silence was deafening and disturbing.

Sakura made slow and painful progress down the hallway, but hesitated at the top of the staircase. Surely, if she tried to navigate her way down it, she would fall. She was too weak to hold her body if she were to lose her footing and her dizziness came and went with the wind blowing it. If her world spun while she was descending the stairs… she shuddered to think of the state of her body in a crumpled heap at the foot of the stairs.

"Fai-san," she croaked quietly.

There was no way the cook could have heard her, even if he had been listening.

Gathering her strength, she called again, louder, "Fai-san."

The clattering in the kitchen fell silent and Sakura thought he had heard her, but loud angry voices rose up in a cacophony. She recognized her parents' voices and Fai's, but there was another voice se did not recognize. It sounded like her own, hoarse and weak, dry and hopeless.

Sakura didn't have the strength to shout over the voices in the kitchen. She would have to navigate the stairs. Taking as deep a breath as she could, she sat down and elected to scoot down each step on her butt. Her head swam and she rested it on the banister.

The voices were growing louder and the sense of urgency was choking her.

She tried to hurry.

After what felt like hours, she reached the bottom of the staircase and paused for as short a time as she could allow to catch her breath. Her lungs were rattling unnervingly, but she staggered to her feet and crossed the room shakily to the kitchen. She paused, gasping in the threshold, unnoticed by Cleo, Charles, or Fai.

The only person who noticed her was a rail-thin young man bound to one of the dining room chairs. His head had been slumped down against his chest, but for some unknown reason, he lifted his head and turned to look at her. He was striking with fine features beneath translucent chalky-pale alabaster skin. His lips were bloodless and chapped but full and soft-looking. His eyes were amber and piercing, knocking the breath out of her chest anew.

Sakura heaved in a deep breath and then asked, "What's going on?"

Instantly, the chatter in the room fell abruptly silent. Charles whirled around, his face red with anger but softening at the sight of his daughter. Cleo had been weeping, her eyes red-rimmed and sparkling. Fai's blue eyes were narrowed in anger, but he had a gleaming false smile for Sakura.

"Sakura-chan," Fai said lightly and waved nonchalantly. "How are you feeling?"

Another wave of nausea and dizziness swept through her. She staggered and fell to her knees, but the urgent feeling in her chest had still not been sated. "What's going on?" she croaked.

Cleo rushed to her baby's side and felt her forehead. "Honey, you're burning up. We need to get you to bed!" She wrapped her arms around Sakura and dragged her weakly to her feet. Sakura wobbled and pushed against her mother's embrace, but Cleo held firm. "No, come on. I'll light you up a fresh stick of incense."

"But–"

"No buts!" Cleo sniped and tried to lead her sick child away, back to bed, back to where she could wait for her gruesome end. Cleo was sick with heartache, with the thought that her daughter who she had fought so hard to save from the curse of the twins to be bringing about the suffering of another pair of twins, but her husband could never know of the terrible birth. She knew killing these boys would do nothing to save Sakura's life, but her husband believed that.

Cleo tried to hurry Sakura along, but the young girl resisted. Sakura paused in the threshold, shivering with her white coughing chest heaving for breath. Her eyes met and held the young man's amber orbs. He stared at her longingly, desperately, and suddenly the urgency crippled her. Sakura fell to her knees, clutching her chest. Her heart was hammering behind her sternum, thundering like a small animal was trapped in the cage of her ribs. A cry of agony welled up in her throat, but she smothered it with a hacking cough. There was blood on her hands.

"STOP THIS!"

Charles moved toward the young man, helpless and restrained. He raised his fist, preparing to render another staggering blow to the boy's vulnerable head where he had already been struck twice. The youth winced, bracing himself.

"YOU'RE MAKING MY SAKURA SICK!" Charles shouted.

Sakura screamed, "Don't!" and then collapsed in a fit of coughing and hacking. She couldn't _breathe_! She clawed at her throat, chest heaving with the effort of trying to draw air into her lungs. She choked and black threaded its icy fingers across her vision. Dizziness gripped her and her legs buckled beneath her.

Dimly, she felt her father's arms around her and her mother calling her name, but there was a second voice. Someone was beckoning her, calling her through a dark tunnel. There was a circle of light not unlike sunlight at the end of the tunnel and she saw many shadowy faces that she vaguely recognized. A sound emerged from her throat, half a cry, half a cough.

Then, abruptly, she crashed back into her body full force. Suffocating, Sakura heaved in a deep breath and choked on the taste of blood. She felt eyes on her and looked up to meet the amber eyes of the young man. Urgency gripped something in her chest, yanking on it and knocking the breath from her lung again.

"Sakura! Sakura!" Cleo was sobbing again. Tears just poured down her fair cheeks.

Charles had whirled on the bound young man again.

Sakura bit her tongue in her hurry to speak. "Daddy, don't!"

Charles paused, half turned to face his daughter, waiting.

Fai's knuckles were white around the ladle he was holding, looking on the scene with terror and helplessness.

"Don't! Don't hurt…" her voice wavered "…don't hurt him…" she whispered.

Then, everything went black and the floor rushed up to meet her.

X X X

Cleo made a rush to grab Sakura before she hit the floor, but wasn't able to snag the child. Sakura's head cracked against the cold marble and she lay very still. Desperately, she cradled Sakura, groped for a pulse, found one, and then looked hopelessly at her husband. "Charles," she began, but he cut her off.

"The twin is making her sick!" he shouted.

"She was never sick before now. This is too sudden to be the boy's fault," Cleo protested and cradled Sakura's head against her bosom. "It's not the boy's fault, please, Charles."

"This is the second time Sakura has stopped you from hurting him. That has to count for something, right?" Fai interjected. The two parents silenced him with ferocious glares and he busily went back to his soup, listening with one ear while adding chopped celery and carrots.

Syaoran sat in the chair, idly testing his bonds for a chance of escape in case they did decide to kill him and pretending they weren't discussing his life in front of him. It was surprisingly easy. He just gazed at Sakura.

The girl was strange. She didn't even know him yet she had saved his life twice for no apparent reason. That and she was beautiful, even gaunt and pale with sickness. Her hair was short and wispy and pale caramel-colored. Sticky with fever sweat, strands clung to her cheeks and constricting throat. Her green eyes were a bit hazy and unfocused, cracked open and glossed over beneath her long thick lashes. Her lips were once lush and full, but now pressed thin and bloodless. If the sickness hadn't been eating at her, she would have been beautiful. Now, she looked like a corpse made up by the mortician.

She groaned and a line of blood trailed from the corner of her lips.

Syaoran's heart twisted painfully in his chest, clenching as if someone had wrapped a hand around it and squeezed. He thought of Syao, but quickly banished the desire to follow where he was sure his twin had gone. Suddenly, he felt as if maybe he could help her if they just gave him a chance.

And if they trusted him, maybe he could escape… follow Syao and find out if his twin was really dead. If he was…

"Um," he ventured suddenly, without thinking of the consequences.

Charles whirled on him, spittle flecking his lips.

Cleo silenced him, rose gracefully to her feet with Sakura's limp body in her arms, and moved towards Syaoran. "You have something to say?" she asked kindly.

Syaoran swallowed nervously, feeling as if she could sense his plan of betrayal. He nodded with strength that belong solely to Syao. "Yes," he said quietly. "I…" he hesitated, glancing at Charles.

The man crossed his arms stubbornly, but Cleo gave Syaoran and encouraging smile.

"I feel as if I could help her," Syaoran ventured.

"AH-HA! YOU ARE THE ONE MAKING HER SICK!" Charles shouted and pointed his finger in Syaoran's face.

Syaoran shook his head quickly. "No, I just have this feeling. I mean, she asked you to spare me for a reason," he whispered. "Maybe this is it…"

Charles opened his mouth to say something and then closed it abruptly.

Cleo pushed past him. "Please, Charles, let the boy try to help Sakura. He can't make things any worse," she pleaded. Maybe this twin could save her daughter, save himself as well.

Charles huffed and puffed, but finally gave in. "Alright, if she doesn't show some improvement in three days…" he let the threat hang and stalked from the room.

Cleo smiled glowingly.

Once they were gone, Fai rushed to untie Syaoran. "I think you just saved your life, Syaoran-kun," the cook said and Syaoran nodded.

Free of the ropes, Syaoran touched his raw wrists and then stood up to go to the window in the kitchen.

Night had fallen. Stars winked and twinkled outside. The moon was fat and full, round as a coin.

Encouraged that this was the right path, Syaoran smiled to himself and touched his aching wrists to the cool glass. "Yeah," he murmured to something spoken absently on the wind.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?


	5. The Dark Half

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted a new chapter.

I've been so busy I haven't had time to eat, but I've finally managed to scrape up some time for my story.

Thanks for being so patient.

And thank you Nims, for pointing out my grievous hair-error!

X X X

Ying-Fa was sitting up at the roughhewn kitchen table. A big knot was protruding from the wood and she was restlessly tracing her fingers over and around it. She was less concerned with the twin in her house than what she was going to tell Setsuki. The woman would probably drop in a dead faint when she heard about the bloodied young man.

A _twin_.

Ying-Fa ran her hand through her short blue-black hair and let out a deep heavy sigh. It wasn't fair to Setsuki's heart to spring something so big and calamitous on her so suddenly. Biting her lip, Ying-Fa decided what she had to do.

Lie.

She hated to lie to anyone, especially wonderful Setsuki, but a cursed and calamitous _twin_ in the weaver's hut would probably give the poor woman a heart attack. So, Ying-Fa _had_ to lie. Make something up, make anything up, lie and lie her skinny little butt off. Lying was a terrible thing to do, though, no matter the circumstances. She consoled herself by saying it would not only save Setsuki's heart from undue shock and horror, but this twin's life, too.

Ying-Fa's compassion and caring won out over her conscience.

She went to the bucket she kept in the corner and drew a tumbler of water in a ladle. The water was coppery, metallic and she saw some blood swirling in the depths of the bucket. Sickened, she picked up the bucket and lugged it outside. She dumped it in the garden, watering the herbs and vegetables Setsuki grew out front of the hut. Then, she hefted the pail again and hauled it to the stream that ran through the Village of Runes.

Night was a thick starry blanket. Wisps of cirrus clouds hung overhead, still touched with a few vestiges of red. The moon was full and fat, round and bright. Shadows were long and thick, stretched deep and blue across the grassy leaf-strewn ground. The huts and buildings were full of warm rosy light, shining under the crack of the door and through the slats of the windows. Cheerful noises–laughter of children, babies crying, mothers singing, and fathers shouting–floated in the still evening air.

The trees were dark silhouettes, shuffling with quiet night noise. Crickets chirped and a few night birds cried in the distance. An owl hooted and a bat swooped low overhead. Fat white moths fluttered near the lanterns hung in the tunnel that led to Clow. Ying-Fa spotted a few deer on the outskirts of the village. They were peaceful creatures with big shining eyes.

The creek chuckled and babbled like something alive, like a cooing baby. The water was cool and crystal clear. Moonlight broke and shimmered on the surface. A few dark fish flickered beneath the surface like fallen misplaced stars.

Ying-Fa wrapped her dress up above her knees to it wouldn't trail into the water, crouched, and dipped the bucket into the creek. Cool mountain water splashed her knuckles and swirled in the depths of the buckets, washing out all remnants of the blood. Content, Ying-Fa stood up and set the bucket on the bank beside her. Her skirt tumbled down around her ankles, brushing at her legs like a cat. The breeze kissed her cheeks and cooled her skin.

Her chest felt empty, hollowed out, like something was missing. She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling her slow heartbeat. She felt as if her heart was broken.

She had a long drink, filled the bucket again, and wondered why.

For a long time, Ying-Fa stood on the banks of the stream, staring out at the stillness of the night.

A wolf howled somewhere.

Then, she picked up the bucket and returned to the hut. The glow of the lamp was warm and welcoming, but she knew the twin lurked unconscious inside.

No, not the _twin_.

She had to stop thinking of him as a twin.

He was just a boy.

One boy.

X X X

Syao woke up in several layers.

First, he felt the pain. Everything hurt. His thigh, his shoulder, and his chest were burning. He felt as if someone had shoved something into his body and was wrenching it viciously and violently. His neck was sore and twisted. His knees and palms were scraped. When he had fallen, he had bent his fingers at an unnatural angle. His fingernails were shoved back, half ripped out, and there was a twig shoved deep under one nail.

Wincing, he brought the hand to his mouth, delicately put the stick between his teeth, and pulled it out. A fire was crackling at his elbow and he tossed the bloodied twig into the flames. For a moment, he watched it burn.

Second, he smelled and felt blood. His skin was itchy and cracking with it. The metallic odor was enough to turn his empty stomach into a knot. His mouth was dry and cracked at the corners.

Third, there was a crushing cold bleak emptiness in his chest. Something was missing, something vital and important, as if his heart had been ripped out.

Groaning in agony as he tried to sit up, he croaked, "Syaoran…?"

Then, he took in his surroundings.

He wasn't in the workhouse or the big mansion on the hill overlooking Clow. He hurt too badly to be in Heaven.

The hut was sparsely furnished with a table and two big looms. The hearth was hot and logs were heaped in the grate, warming the room. There was a basket of yarn in the corner. There were six windows just in this room, though they were shaded with bamboo shutters. During the day, he figured the room was warm and full of light. The floor and walls were rough hardwood, but clean and smelled richly of cedar. The ceiling was open-beamed and hung with a variety of objects: bouquets of dried flowers, lengths of cloth, baskets of dried food, some extra blankets, and finished tapestries. The place was cozy with two other bedrooms tucked in the back.

"Syaoran…?" he croaked and buoyed himself up on his elbows. There was a trail of blood on the floor leading right to him and his stomach turned over again. He wretched, but the last time he had eaten had been two days ago and there was nothing but acid in his stomach. "Syaoran? Where are you…?"

The empty feeling in his chest wrapped around his heart, smothering him. Ice ran through his veins, froze him to the core. Tears welled up in his eyes and threatened to fall.

That's right.

Syaoran was dead.

His twin was gone.

His brother, his family, was dead.

Syao put his face in his hands and sobbed. His hair plastered to his cheeks. His shoulder and chest burned and ached, but that pain was nothing compared to the hole in his chest. Half of him was missing and nothing would ever assuage that.

X X X

Ying-Fa returned to a strange sight. The young man was awake, sitting up, and crying. Her heart caught in her throat like a stone and she struggled to swallow it. She had been so wrapped up in saving his life that she hadn't really taken a _good_ look at him. He was very handsome with fine features: high cheekbones, full lips, strong chin, and lovely almond shaped eyes of purest grieving amber. His hair was thick and dark and needed a cut, but it wasn't unattractive. His shoulders were strong and well-defined, attached to a slender quivering throat and a muscular though malnourished torso with a six-pack and so many scars.

When he saw her, he didn't try to beef up and act macho. He lowered his hands from his face and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. The tears were like diamonds on his cheeks, glittering and glimmering. He bit his lip and then croaked, "Who… who are you?"

"Oh! My name is Ying-Fa," she said quickly and set down the bucket by the door. "I'm the doctor-in-training here."

He gestured to his blackened chest and shoulder. "You… did this to me?" The emotion on his face was one she couldn't decipher.

Ying-Fa stiffened. "To save your life," she explained.

A faint smile curved his chapped mouth. "Thank you…" he murmured and wiped his face with the shoulder of his shirt. Blood streaked his face, moist with his tears.

Ying-Fa was taken aback. Cauterization was painful, sometimes more painful than the wound itself. No one had ever thanked her for burning their wounds closed. That and the young man seemed untroubled by the pain which made her wonder exactly what he had gone through. She wasn't exactly sure how to respond so she just said, "Umm… you're welcome."

The young man dipped his head and she saw his throat working busily.

"Would you like something to drink?" she asked.

"Water would be wonderful," he croaked hoarsely.

Nodding to no one in particular, Ying-Fa went to the bucket and drew a tumbler of fresh cold water. His hand was shaking a little when he took the cup, but he easily brought it to his mouth and drank without spilling a drop. Some wet blood ran down the side of his mouth. Without thinking, Ying-Fa reached out and wiped it away with her thumb.

The young man started as violently as if she had struck him. The tumbler fell from his hand, empty, and clattered noisily towards the hearth. He snatched it before it could burn.

"I'm so sorry," he said at the same time she did.

For a moment, they stared at each other and something connected between them. Ying-Fa felt her eyes fluttering closed and the young man's breath on her face was warm and moist. She felt as if she could head his heart beating in his chest. Her own heart seemed especially loud. She swallowed and wet her lips.

Then, the young man said, "I'm Syao…"

Her eyes snapped open. She realized she had been expecting him to kiss her and wondered what he had been expecting.

Syao wasn't looking at her, but the tumbler in his lap, as if introducing himself to the cup instead of her. His eyes were barred and his shoulders were shaking minutely. The cauterized wound on his heaving chest stood out black against his white skin.

"It's a pleasure," Ying-Fa said.

His gaze snapped to her, startled and a bit frightened. Then, darkness touched his eyes again. He looked almost mean.

"They killed my brother," he growled.

"You don't know that," Ying-Fa protested. Kurogane had told her as much, but she sensed something more, something _wrong._

His lips pulled back over his teeth. "And you do?" he snarled.

Before she could respond, he lashed out and wrapped one hand around her throat. His grip was iron. Even with both her hands she couldn't loosen his fingers. Spots danced across her vision, obscuring his twisted face. She choked weakly and dug her short fingernails into his flesh, peeling and ripping at it.

"My Syaoran is dead," he growled. "I feel it."

Ying-Fa choked, but he only tightened his fingers on her windpipe. "L-let me-e go!" There was darkness in his eyes, so bleak and horrible that she knew he was going to kill her. Even worse, there was nothing she could do to save herself. "S-Syao!"

For a moment, he looked startled. Then, he thrust their faces very close together and hissed, "Forget that name."

Black fingers crept across her vision and her entire body felt leaden. She was going to pass out. She was going to die.

Just before the blackness took her, she heard him whisper, "I really am grateful."

Then, everything was gone.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?


	6. The Magician & The Hunter

Blah, blah, blah.

I have little to nothing to save.

X X X

Syaoran wasted no time. After scrubbed his hands and arms up to his elbows and washing the blood from his face, he hurried up to Sakura's bedroom. Outside her bedroom door, he paused to think of Syao, but quickly shook the thought of his brother away. He couldn't do anything for Syao, but he could save himself. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door and was immediately swamped in the thick foul-smelling cloud of incense. Coughing and hacking, he stumbled into the room.

Cleo was knelt in vigil at Sakura's bedside, hands folded and head bowed, but she looked up at him when he wobbled in. "Good heavens. Whatever is the matter?" she asked kindly and held out a hand to him.

Syaoran didn't see her hand. The room was too thick with smoke. He coughed out, "What are you thinking?!"

"Excuse me?" Cleo asked incredulously.

Syaoran didn't pause to consider his words. "This is why she isn't getting better!" he scolded. "She needs fresh air, not all this smoke!" He stumbled blindly to her window, fumbled for a moment, and then heaved it open. A rush of cool fresh night air filled his lungs, blessedly.

On her bed, Sakura coughed once and then inhaled deeply.

Syaoran went to the altar set up on her nightstand and grabbed the mess of burning ashy incense. He tossed it carelessly out the window.

The night guard below let out a squawk.

Within seconds, the smoke and haze had cleared. The room was chilly, but fresh.

Sakura began to shiver beneath her pink and white quilt. Her teeth chattered and her fingers fisted the blankets in a white knuckled grip.

Cleo reached for her baby's hand and rubbed it between hers. "She's burning up," she said desperately.

Syaoran crossed the room to stand at Sakura's side. He removed the cool cloth, pushed her bangs aside, and touched her forehead. She was warm with fever, but not dangerously so. Her body was fighting whatever had her in its grip, but it was going to need some help.

Syaoran turned to Cleo. "Do you have any heating bricks?" he asked quickly.

Cleo looked confused, but nodded. "Yes, in a stack beside the hearth," she told him and pointed.

Syaoran swiftly packed the bricks in the grate, heating them to the point that they burned his hands when he wrapped them in cloth, and carried them to Sakura's bed. He pulled back her covers, heedless of her state of dress beneath them, and hastily packed the bricks along her body.

"What are you doing?!" Cleo squealed. "You'll only raise her temperature!"

Syaoran nodded and fought Cleo's hands back from the bricks. "Yes," he said. "That's what she needs. The only way she'll survive this is if she can sweat it out."

Cleo wet her lips and then looked at her pale and sickly beautiful Sakura. Then, she nodded. "Alright," she murmured. "Alright…" Then, she sat back and kept out of Syaoran's way as he bustled around Sakura like a busy bee.

And so, the night continued…

Syaoran never stopped.

He busily heated more bricks and replaced the ones that had cooled below the temperature he desired. He dripped cool water past Sakura's parted lips and watched her like a hawk until she swallowed, careful not to allow her to breath in any fluid. He regularly checked her fever and her pulse against his own. Occasionally, he went to the window and looked out.

Cleo remained in her chair at Sakura's side, watching Syaoran and praying for Sakura.

Finally, as dawn was breaking on the distant horizon, Sakura's fever broke.

X X X

Kurogane trudged home at the same time and slunk through the kitchen. He was hoping the Fai wasn't awake yet and that he could filch some leftovers and a bottle of whiskey and be back to his room before anyone saw him. But, as destiny would have it, luck was not on his side.

Fai was standing at the cooking fire, heating water for his morning tea and cooking an omelet stuffed with meat, cheese, and vegetables.

Kurogane cursed to himself. He would have snuck back out if it was anyone else, but Fai had ears like a hawk. Chances were he already knew the hunter was in the kitchen with him so there was no avoiding it. Quietly none the less, Kurogane went to the pantry and got himself a glass of bourbon.

"Good morning, Kuro-ryu," Fai called cheerfully.

Kurogane ground his teeth.

"Would you like some tea this morning?"

"I'm in the same room as you. I'm going to need something stronger," Kurogane snarled at Fai.

The blonde laughed amicably. "I see," he said happily. "Then would you like some coffee with rum?"

It was hard to take his anger at being unable to kill the twin on Fai when the blonde was being so friendly and studiously ignoring every barb Kurogane sent his way. Sighing with resignation, Kurogane said, "Sure, what the hell."

Fai smiled. He knew he had won.

"Smug little bitch," Kurogane swore, but accepted the hot mug of coffee. It was only half full and he glared at Fai until the mug was filled to the brim with rum. Then, he took a greedy sip and leaned back on the counter with a contented sigh.

"Better, Kuro-run?" Fai asked.

Begrudgingly, Kurogane nodded and sipped on his earthenware cup.

The blonde knew him like the back of his hand, had him figured out from top to bottom and everything in between.

Fai smiled knowingly, cheekily, and folded the omelet over. He added a little salt and slid it onto a plate. "Here," he continued. "I figured you'd be hungry."

Kurogane took a big bite of the meat, cheese, and vegetables and washed it down with rum and coffee. Then, his crimson eyes lingered on Fai's slender white hands as he broke three more eggs, whipped them with some milk, and poured them into the pan. Then, the blonde straightened and went to stand in front of Kurogane.

"So…?" Fai began.

"What?" Kurogane snapped.

"The other twin…?"

Kurogane's eyes shifted slyly and he glowered at Fai. "I buried his body in the woods," the hunter growled.

Fai's blue eyes widened and then narrowed. "Did you really?"

The hunter crammed the remainder of the omelet into his mouth and chugged the rest of his coffee. He glared at Fai and then closed his eyes with exhaustion.

"Kurogane…?"

He hesitated and then muttered, "No."

"He's alive, then?"

Kurogane nodded.

"Good because if you killed that kid…" he trailed off and pressed his lean body against Kurogane's. His arms went around his neck and drew him close and captive. Some blonde strands tickled Kurogane's cheeks. "…you wouldn't get _anything_ tonight."

Kurogane's mouth split in a grin.

Fai kissed him hard, drew his lower lips between his teeth, and suckled on it. Kurogane broke loose and shoved his tongue past Fai's teeth. The blonde moaned and rubbed his hips against Kurogane's crotch, enjoying the feeling of his lover's length hardening and stretching out against his thigh. He smiled against Kurogane's mouth while his moist cavern was ravaged. Kurogane's hands wandered down his chest, pinched his nipples delicately, and then harshly gripped his lover's package.

Fai let out a little whimper and bucked his hips against Kurogane's palm.

Kurogane grinned and slid his cold hand down the front of Fai's trousers. His gripped his shaft and pumped it until Fai was a shivering heap in his arms. He rubbed his fingers through the precum moisture and laved it across Fai's puckered asshole. The blonde moaned and pushed his hips back, trying to encourage Kurogane to enter him. Finally, the hunter did and he stretched him harshly. He plunged three fingers into his lover and milked them in and out.

Fai was moaning and mewing, writhing against Kurogane's chest.

Then, suddenly, Kurogane pulled away.

Fai collapsed against the counter, chest heaving and mouth dry. He whimpered, "Kuro-chan, don't just finger… please…"

Kurogane grinned cheekily. "That's for threatening me," he said. "I'll see you tonight."

Then, the hunter walked away, leaving Fai wanting more.

X X X

I still don't support KuroFai, but I need something to up the drama.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	7. The Weaver's Daughter

Yeah, yeah, yada, yada.

Thank you Nims for putting me back on track.

You know what? Drama freaking sucks!

X X X

A big claw-footed golden and jeweled ancient full-length mirror was standing before Ying-Fa. The quicksilver was crystal clear, beautiful and glossy, polished to painfully bright.

She was looking wonderingly at herself in the archaic mirror.

Her hair was its usual color, free of black ink and pale glimmering caramel, streaming in wisps around her face. Her lips were unpainted. Her body not clad in her red-brown skirt and leather vest with black silk, a birthday gift from Setsuki, underneath, but a beautiful full-length gown of petal-pink satin with thick frills of white lace around the low neck and down the front. For a moment, she almost didn't recognize herself.

Then, she moved, but she didn't move. Startled, Ying-Fa took a step back, but she didn't step back.

It's not a mirror, she realized. She raised her hand in a wave to see if she was correct.

Sure enough, her reflection didn't return her greeting immediately.

The other girl hesitated and her eyes widened. Then, she also waved nervously.

"Who are you?" Ying-Fa asked and folded her hands neatly behind her back.

The other girl's jade eyes welled up with tears, but she wiped them away. "My name…" she murmured. "Who are you?"

"Ying-Fa of Runes," she said a little hesitantly.

A shiver ran through Ying-Fa and she saw a shudder wrack the other girl's shoulders.

Ying-Fa tasted blood and she suddenly felt faint. "The boy…?" she whispered. "Syao…?"

The other girl's head snapped up. Her green eyes were glazed over with fever and sickness. "Syaoran? You know Syaoran?"

Ying-Fa blearily shook her head.

A crack slithered down the crystalline surface of the mirror.

"No," both girls whispered and, at the same moment, reached out.

Ying-Fa's hand slid against the cool glass of the mirror. Blood welled beneath her palm and ran down the glass. The other girl pounded weakly on the glass and a second crack marred the surface. Silver began to bleed out, shining hoary tears. It was like a glass of water draining and the less silver there was the less Ying-Fa could see of the other girl.

Desperately, Ying-Fa shouted, "Wait!"

But the silver continued to drain away, pooling ice cold around her feet. She glanced down and then looked quickly back to the mirror. It was a plain brown sheet of wood with glass over it. The girl was gone from its surface.

"No!"

Ying-Fa hit the mirror's surface and her fist bounced uselessly off it. She looked down at the pool of silver around her feet. Her own face stared back. Her mouth was whore red and her eyes were red-rimmed and ink-black hair was ratted around her thin face.

Blood swirled through the silver and she felt a crushing pain in her throat.

"No! Ying-Fa!" another voice shouted.

Pain roared through her entire body and she opened her eyes on Setsuki's terrified face.

X X X

Groaning, Ying-Fa rolled over and immediately white-hot pain seared through her chest. Her throat was tight and sore, like she had been eating sand, and her mouth tasted of blood. She clutched at her burning windpipe and Setsuki pried her fingers away.

"Don't, baby! Who did this to you?" The weaver asked gently and pressed her palm flat on Ying-Fa's heaving chest.

"Did this–?" Ying-Fa broke off, trying to heave in a deep breath. She felt starved of air as if she had been underwater a long time. "My throat…?"

Setsuki shushed her. "There're big bruises on your throat in the shape of hands," she supplied. "Would you like some water?"

It all came rushing back full-force.

The hunter Kurogane, the bloodied young man, the twin, Syao, the stream, him awakening, talking, him strangling her, what she thought was dying… the dream of the mirror and the young woman…

Setsuki pressed a cup into her hands and helped her sit up. Ying-Fa sipped delicately. It hurt to swallow, but she finished the glass anyway.

"Ying-Fa?"

"I took in a boy," she croaked. "When he woke up, I guess he hurt me."

"Who was it, honey?" Setsuki asked.

_Forget that name._

Ying-Fa shook her head and then shrugged. "I never knew," she murmured. "How long was I out?"

"I just got back," Setsuki said.

"A long time," Ying-Fa concluded. "Overnight and probably most of a day."

Setsuki looked worried, but allowed Ying-Fa to climb to her feet. "Be careful, honey. You've had a fright."

"I'm alright," Ying-Fa said. She slathered some cool herbal cream on her aching throat and made herself a cup of peppermint and clove tea to sooth the ach in her throat and chest. "How was the trade?" Even going for herbs, food, and thread, Setsuki always brought a few of their wares and tried to sell them when she had time. If she managed a sale, she brought home a treat. If she didn't, then no harm done.

Setsuki shrugged halfheartedly. "Slow. I got more offers of marriage for you than I did anything else. You'll have to come to the market with me next time I sell tapestries and try your hand at it. I'm getting old…" The weaver _was_ getting old. Her long hair was steel-grey and her face was mostly warm brown wrinkles. Her limbs were long and wiry. At best, she had maybe ten years left in her.

Ying-Fa's throat tightened and a pain hat wasn't from her bruised throat gripped her. She chugged some scalding tea to hide her tears.

Setsuki hated to be reminded of anything sad. She hated to see people cry.

"Alright, I'll do that," Ying-Fa said when she could trust her voice again.

Setsuki looked at her knowingly, but choose to say nothing. She went to Ying-Fa's loom and looked over the beginnings of her vibrant tapestry. "I like it. Very fierce and fiery. It reminds me of the hunt," she said and stepped back to admire it.

Ying-Fa smiled. "It's the surface of a lake. I'm going to put in dark trees and the burning sunset."

Setsuki tilted her head. "Oh," she said finally. "Yes, I suppose I see that, too."

They laughed.

Their day passed as it usually would and they sat up working on their tapestries well into the night. When the oil lamp sputtered and went out, leaving only the dim light from the hearth. Ying-Fa sat back and stretched. She had put in her forest and began the burning sky.

"Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning," she muttered to herself.

Setsuki wiped her brow and smiled. "Is it morning or night?"

Ying-Fa shrugged. "Night, now. I'm exhausted," she said.

"You should be," Setsuki said righteously.

Ying-Fa giggled and kissed her mother's forehead. "Alright, you come to bed shortly, too."

"Of course," she said. "As soon as I finish the moon."

Ying-Fa looked at her tapestry. It was the forest at night with a beautiful graceful dear catching the fat full moon's shining rays. Discreetly in the shadows of a big pine was a lovely graceful woman in a flowing gown with antlers. Wolves' eyes were bright spots in the shadows and a terrifying man loomed behind the woman. For some reason, there was a sense of forbidden love in the tapestry between the doe and the wolf.

"What do you think?"

"I love it!" They laughed again and then Ying-Fa went to bed. She lay awake, listening to Setsuki weaving. Finally, she fell asleep.

X X X

When she woke up, Setsuki was abnormally still on her futon beside the hearth. Her steel-grey hair was fanned in little wisps and curls around her face and her lips were pale and bloodless. Her eyes were closed, still, no movement beneath the translucent lids.

Groaning as the vestiges of sleep fell away from her shoulders, Ying-Fa sat up and cracked her neck. "Setsuki?" she whispered.

The old woman didn't stir.

Ying-Fa grasped her shoulder and gave her a little shake. Her body was cold as ice and slightly stiff. Tears choked in her throat, welled on her long lashes. A single tear made a slow trail down her cheek, streaking the dirt on her skin.

Desperately, Ying-Fa shook her mother. "Setsuki?!"

But the old woman still didn't move.

"Setsuki! No, please, no! Wake up, Setsuki!" Ying-Fa pleaded.

A scream welled up in her throat and she tried to tap it down.

"Please… wake up…"

It was not use. Setsuki was dead.

"MOM!"

X X X

The next day, the sky was thick and black with storm clouds. A cool wind was blowing down from the mountains. Fat chilly rain drops pattered down with a vengeance in sheets. Thunder growling in the mountain and the sky was lit with spike and flashes of lightning. Mud squelched beneath the mourners' feet and clung to the trailing hems of black clothing. There wasn't a dry eye save the grass-green eyes of Setsuki's young daughter.

Ying-Fa was strangely distant, as if shell-shocked. There was a terrible distance in her eyes. Her dark blue-black hair was frosted with water and hanging damply around her face and in her eyes. She was wearing a lovely black silk kimono, gripping the trailing hem in on hand to keep it off the mud. Her skin looked like milk, translucent and bluish in the dreary light of the rainy day. In her arms, she had a big bouquet of white lilies all starred with water.

She didn't really see her mother's casket lowered into the cold muddy ground.

"Ying-Fa?" The midwife touched her skinny stone-still shoulder. "Honey?"

Ying-Fa stepped forward and laid her armful of white starry lilies on the disturbed grave soil. Then, on the wind, she whispered, "I love you, Mom…"

In the distance, thunder snarled.

X X X

The next morning, Ying-Fa was gone, too.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?


	8. The Second Twin's Dream

Since I'm just waiting for my friend to show up so I figured I'd do some work. It's been so long since I last updated. I know, I'm so bad!

Anyway, gross weather here. So boring and I'm going to make peanut butter cookies later today.

Blah, blah, blah.

X X X

Sakura's green eyes fluttered open, trolled the room, and then found the boy's concerned face looking down at her. She heard her mother's sharp intake of breath somewhere in the room and noticed that the air was clean, fresh, and a little chilly, but had no care for any of this. She smiled at the relief on his handsome face and tried to smile in return. Her lips were dry and cracked at the corners, so smiling was a little painful. Immediately, the boy had a tumbler of water pressed to her parched mouth.

"Here, drink. It's water. Drink slowly," he said.

Sakura allowed him to help her raise her head and then sipped delicately, slowly, like he told her. His fingers were warm and cautious, burrowing through her soft short tresses. Once she had emptied the cup, she lay back against the pillows and looked up at him.

"Who… who are you?" she croaked.

He smiled a bit sadly. "My name is Syaoran. How are you feeling?"

Her throat worked busily for several moments and then she whispered, "Better. Warmer. Has my fever broken?"

"At sunrise," Syaoran said and stepped back to allow Cleo to her daughter's bedside.

Cleo grasped Sakura's hand in her own, smiling and teary. "Baby," she whispered. "How do you feel? DO you feel any better? Can I get you anything?"

Sakura croaked, "Where's daddy?"

Syaoran tensed, but Cleo flashed him a warm smile. "He's in his study. Would you like me to fetch him?"

Sakura nodded weakly and then turned to Syaoran. "Thank you," she whispered.

He bowed his head, but didn't say anything.

Sakura waited, chewing her lower lip, until Cleo left the room. Then, she turned to Syaoran and murmured, "I saw you in my dreams."

His head snapped up. "In dreams?" he whispered.

She nodded and her eyes fluttered closed. "You saved my life," she whispered.

He perched on the edge of her bed and timidly held her hand.

She didn't object.

"You saved mine," he murmured. "Thank you…"

She smiled and then fell asleep again, holding his fingers tightly.

X X X

Fai had a bowl of hot soup and a plate of fresh hot bread smothered in butter and a tumbler of hot gin laid out on the small kitchen table for Syaoran. When the boy dragged himself into the kitchen, the cook wasted no time in questioning him.

"How is Sakura-chan?" he asked desperately.

The boy collapsed in one of the rough chairs at the table. Syaoran looked at him with dark circles beneath his exhausted red-rimmed eyes, but nodded wearily. "Yes. Her fever broke at dawn and she came to a little later and spoke briefly with me. She's sleeping peacefully now," he told Fai and tossed back the tumbler of gin. He shuddered, but finished it.

Fai smiled to himself, but then thought of how young Syaoran must be to still shudder at the taste of gin. Even at young ages, gin was drunk like water among all the common folk. Wetting his lips, the cook asked, "Syaoran-kun, how old are you?"

Syaoran looked up, amber eyes wary and tinged with some emotion that Fai couldn't explain. "It's not what you think. They used to give us gin in the workhouse so we could sleep, but you don't want to sleep there… not with the things that happen in the dark…"

Fai chewed his lip and rummaged for the bottle of sweet ale. He got himself a glass and sat down next to Syaoran. "How about some ale, then?"

Syaoran finished the gin and took a big bite of the buttered bread. "No thank you…"

"Come now. It'll warm your bones and soothe those ragged nerves," Fai offered and sloshed the bottle.

Syaoran's amber eyes narrowed and he glared rather fiercely at Fai.

"I think that almost turned me to stone," Fai said. "Whatever is the matter?"

"Oh, just wondering when your lord will come down here and cut my throat. Why should that worry me? I'm only a _twin_!" Syaoran snapped. He swept his hand across the table, knocking everything to the floor with a terrible crash.

"Whoa, whoa!" Fai squeaked and scurried backwards.

Then, Syaoran put his face in his hands and trembled. "It doesn't matter without Syao anyway…"

Fai didn't know what to say to the kid. Syaoran looked broken and traumatized. He knew his life was hanging by a sinuous silver thread. He had a good heart in him to save Sakura even when his own life was on the line.

"Um, Syaoran-kun…"

A hand gripped the cooks shoulder, hard, and dragged him backwards a step. The lord was standing beside him. Charles looked as sleepless as Syaoran and four times as mean. He appraised the young man sourly, with a touch of distain, and something else.

"Boy, rise," Charles ordered.

Shakily with exhaustion, fear, and frustration, Syaoran stood up. He had to brace his hands on the table to keep from shaking himself to pieces.

Fai tried to interrupt, but Charles silenced him with a look. "Cook, don't you have someplace else to be?"

"But–"

Charles glowered fiercely and Fai scuttled out of the kitchen.

Syaoran wrapped his fingers around the edge of the table, digging his fingernails into the wood.

Charles stared hard at Syaoran. "I believe thanks are in order," the lord said finally. "Cleo tells me that without you my Sakura-chan would be dead. I just spoke with Sakura and…"

Syaoran gnawed his lip and said nothing.

"She has asked me to spare you."

Syaoran's head snapped up and his mouth fell open.

"Surprising, isn't it? But my daughter is very compassionate. She even asked me to allow you to live here with us. Would you like that, boy?"

Syaoran nodded a little jerkily. "Yes, sir," he whispered. This was too good to be true. "Very much, sir…"

Charles smiled and it transformed his face. "Alright, then. We'd best get you a room," he said and held out his hand to Syaoran.

Smiling in return, Syaoran took the lord's hand.

Instantly, the flesh rotted and melted away. Terrified, Syaoran looked to the lord's face.

"Why?" Charles screamed. His lips were packed with maggots, teeth black and rotten in grey swollen gums. His eyes were yellow and watery and his skin was peeling from his skull. Even the bones looked sick with disease. "Why did I let a twin into my home?"

Syaoran tried to pull his hand from Charles, but the dying rotting man only gripped him tighter. Spittle and blood sprayed from the lord's mouth as he howled in anguish. A snake slithered up from his throat, wrapped around and around Syaoran's arm like a cold slimy coil. A scream of animalistic terror welled up in Syaoran's throat, bottled up there. Charles gripped him by his shoulders and tried to shake him, but his arms pulled from the sockets and flesh hung from the tattered wounds like streamers. The dead hands continued to grip Syaoran.

"A twin!" Charles screamed. "I've doomed us all!"

Then, Syaoran woke with a start. He was on the floor at Sakura's bedside, apparently having woken himself from his nightmare by falling from his chair. He sat up and put his face in his hands. His cheeks were damp and cool with tears. He quickly dried his face with the ratty dirty sleeve of his shirt. Grit scratched his raw skin and he whimpered quietly in pain.

"You're hurting yourself," a soft gentle voice whispered.

A chill went down Syaoran's spine and his head snapped up so fast he made himself dizzy.

Sakura was propped up on her pillows. The pink-and-white quilt was pulled up to her chin, but her small white hands lay on top of the covers. She looked tired and a little sick, but there was color in her cheeks and light in her emerald eyes. She smiled at Syaoran and it was like a row of candles, like a spread of wings, like a string of pearls. She had a beautiful smile.

Syaoran felt his own lips curve.

_A twin! I've doomed us all!_

Then, his dream crashed around him again and he felt the smile shatter on his face. Syaoran thought of Sakura's beautiful face all riddled with decay, of her sparkling white smile rotting from her mouth, of her skin looking sick and sallow again. Bile was hot and sour in the back of his throat, gagging his lungs with internal decay.

"Is something wrong?" Sakura's fingers were cool and tender on the side of his face. "Syaoran?"

"I'm alright," he whispered weakly. "Just a little tired…"

"You should rest," she murmured. "I've asked my father to allow you to stay here with us."

Syaoran's blood ran cold and he choked on the breath in his throat. "What?"

Sakura looked saddened. "You would not like that?"

The dream was coiling cold fingers of needles through his heart. He wanted very much to stay with this girl, but he was a _twin._

_A twin! I've doomed us all!_ Charles had been screaming, howling as his body rotted away.

Syaoran clenched his fists. As a twin, he would always have to leave the people he loved in order to protect them. The only one he could ever have had been Syao, but now Syao was dead. Syaoran was still a twin, half a twin and therefore half as dangerous and calamitous and deadly, but still a twin. He could not stay, could never stay.

Because Sakura was looking so curiously at him, he smiled and thanked her. "No, I would like that very much," he said gratefully.

Sakura smiled and leaned back into her pillows. After a moment her eyes slid closed and her breathing grew deep and even. She was still recovering, still recuperating from her sickness, but Syaoran would consider her out of the woods. She just needed some food and sleep.

He smiled, stood up, and started to leave the room.

"Wait, Syaoran," Sakura called weakly.

He paused and turned.

"Take this." In her hand was a gold locket, beautiful and intricate with a small emerald in the center of the heart. It was embellished and engraved with pearly flowers and small delicate bird. Something in her eyes told him she knew he was going, but all doubts were erased when he returned to take the locket and she whispered, "Please, don't forget me."

Syaoran felt a little cold, but before he could respond, she was asleep again. He put the beautiful locket around his neck where it lay warm and heavy over his heart. Then, he left the room.

X X X

No one was in the kitchen. No Fai and no Charles.

Letting his breath out in a rush of relief, Syaoran easily located a large sturdy leather canteen and filled it with cool water. It was probably the hunter Kurogane's canteen, but Syaoran was planning on running away so it didn't matter. He would cover his tracks. He stole a loaf of bread, some dried meat, a thermos of soup, and a heavy cloak of green fabric from the hall closet. Then, he slipped on the cloak, put the canteen of water over his shoulder, wrapped the food in a handkerchief, and sneaked out the door.

He didn't plan to be back.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?


	9. The Three Meet and Depart

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated.

I've been so busy and so lazy!

And the weather has been so nice and snuggly warm!

It was just my birthday! I'm seventeen! Yay!

Grr! Shame on me!

X X X

Ying-Fa stopped at a teahouse in the center of a bustling little city where she and Setsuki used to sell their tapestries. It had been their favorite. Exhausted and bone-weary, Ying-Fa poured herself into a chair and ordered some soothing chamomile tea and a few butter cookies with lemon icing.

The waitress, in a beautifully fall-colored kimono, was cheerful and attentive. She asked all the customers about their travels and offered cream and sugar on a little tray with ease. When she brought Ying-Fa's tea and cookies to her little table, she had a lovely easy smile that reminisced of Setsuki's kind face. Tears welled up in Ying-Fa's eyes and a sob wracked her chest.

She had been running from her pain and it had finally caught up to her.

The waitress was not taken aback in the least. She sat down next to Ying-Fa and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Shh, hun, what is it?" she asked kindly and pushed Ying-Fa's warm mug into her slack palms.

The girl cupped the mug and breathed in the scent of the steam.

"Is something wrong?" The waitress asked.

Ying-Fa nodded. "My mother's dead," she whispered.

"Oh, honey," the waitress said with a gasp. She put a delicate hand to her mouth and gently rubbed Ying-Fa's back. "It's okay. Are you going to stay with family? Is that why you're traveling?"

Ying-Fa shook her head.

She had no family.

Suddenly, her dream charged through her head and smashed painfully into the backs of her eyes. She almost cried out.

Her reflection, the girl in the mirror who looked exactly like her… what if it hadn't completely been a dream? Ying-Fa had no family and Setsuki forced her to dye her hair and paint her face. What if Ying-Fa was a twin?

Unable to breathe, Ying-Fa gasped and choked on the sip of tea that had turned cold in her throat.

It was the curse of the twins that had killed Setsuki!

Ying-Fa exploded back from the table and the friendly waitress with a cry of anguish. "Stay away from me!" she shouted.

Everyone in the teahouse turned to look at her inquisitively. The waitress was making placating gestures with her hands.

"I'm under a curse!" Ying-Fa continued and backed up into the wall. Her vision swam with hysteria and her knees tried to buckle. "T-tw-tw-t–!" She couldn't bring herself to choke out the words, the source of her curse.

_A twin!_

And Setsuki had taken her in regardless of that. It showed what a wonderful heart that woman had had. She was kind and generous to a fault. Essentially, Ying-Fa had killed her and Setsuki had given her life knowing that.

Ying-Fa whirled around and barreled out of the teahouse full-tilt. She didn't stop running until she was out of the little city and deep on the traveler's road in the woods. Then, she stopped, bent in half with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath. Her cloak hung in her face and her shoulder bag was pressing into the back of her knee. Her legs were weak, her chest was throbbing with exertion, and could taste blood in the back of her throat, but none of those things compared to the pain of knowing she had cursed Setsuki with death.

Tears welled up in her eyes and dripped onto the soil below.

"Umm, Miss, are you alright?" a kind familiar voice asked.

Ying-Fa looked up and came face to face with Syao except his eyes were less crazed, gentler, and his body was less muscular. Her breathe gasped in her throat, sucking her lungs inside-out. "Y-yo-yo-you!"

"Miss, is everything alright? Do you need some water?" The young man's brow furrowed and he took a step towards her.

She took a step back. "Syao!" she finally choked out. "You… you're… I'm… uh!" her thoughts were heavy and jumbled and she wasn't sure exactly what she had intended to say but that certainly hadn't been it. Syao told her to forget his name.

The young man's eyes widened. "Syao?!" he demanded and hurried up to her no matter how hard she tried to scramble back. "You've seen Syao? When? Where?"

It was then that Ying-Fa realized. "You're his twin?"

The young man nodded.

"You're a twin too…" she whispered. Surely, their curses would cancel each other out. She would not cause this young man's death if he was a twin himself. Suddenly, he heart stopped knocking so insistently against her ribcage.

"My name is Syaoran. Please, tell me, when did you see Syao?" He was almost begging.

"I treated him maybe a week ago," Ying-Fa told him and then collapsed on her lower legs in the middle of the road. "He tried to kill me and then ran off. He said his twin was dead and he was going to get the people that killed him."

Syaoran swore. "I've got to find him!" he said.

Ying-Fa glanced up at him through her dark hair. He was very handsome and very concerned and he was a twin. Maybe, maybe, she could stay with him for a little while. Before she could say anything, though, Syaoran was off at a fast pace.

Ying-Fa couldn't hope to keep up with him after her sprint from the teahouse. For a moment, she watched his retreating back and then he disappeared around a bend in the path. She waited until she could breathe easy again and followed the same path he had taken. He was nowhere in sight.

Gone.

Vanished.

Disappeared like smoke.

Even more exhausted than she had been at the teahouse, she trudged wearily along the traveler's road after the other twin. She had only a small hope of catching him again, but she wanted to see him again. She _wanted_ to find him and even Syao again.

X X X

Syao was bloody and sore. The side of his face was skinned open, showing grisly white and veined with crimson. His lip had a thick slit right down the center and he kept digging his teeth into it, accidentally or on purpose, he wasn't sure which. His hair stuck to both wound and got in his eyes. The bullet wounds in his shoulder and chest were burned closed but blood was seeping around the edges. His thigh was aching and he felt as if the muscle was sloughing off. He bit his lip again.

His stomach was growling and empty. He had caught and roasted three frogs for dinner last night, but there wasn't much meat on them.

Sometimes, he ate mud just to fill his stomach. He needed real food and some sleep and clean bandages for his wounds. Regardless of his mind roiling with hatred and despair, he wasn't insane. He wanted his twin and he wanted a woman and he wanted some food.

He picked up his sword and shoved it into its scabbard and walked out of the forest.

X X X

Sorry about the slowness of my updating.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	10. The Corpse Rises

Sorry. So sorry! It's been sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long since I updated, but I forgot everything I wrote and had to reread the entire thing! Grr!

And I have PSSA/SAT/messed up school schedule/boyfriend is sick/projects that I am fudging.

Sorry.

On with the show.

X X X

When Sakura woke up, stiff with dried fever sweat, she knew the boy was already gone. Her throat felt naked with her locket gone, but she was glad to have given it to him. Syaoran, a twin, the young man that had saved her life at the greatest cost to himself. He had lost his twin, maybe for her, maybe he was already losing him, but either way, Sakura felt guiltily responsible.

She rubbed her hands over her face, feeling the gaunt pressing bones of her skull beneath her thin skin. She had lost a lot of weight during her sickness.

She tossed the covers back and put her cold feet on the floor. She stood up, her legs buckled, and she crashed to the floor with an uproarious noise. Apparently, her body had lost most of its frail strength along with the weight. Trembling, she heaved herself up on her stick-thin arms and managed to put her back against the bed. Her chest was heaving with exertion and she was dizzy and out of breath.

Once her head stopped swimming, she tried to stagger weakly to her feet. She made a few hobbling steps, paused to grasp the back of a chair to steady herself, and then made it the rest of the way to the bathroom. She closed the door quietly and turned on the water. Noisily, the tub began to fill with hot water. She adjusted the temperature and stripped out of her soiled white nightgown. Then, shivering with pleasure at the warmth of the tub, Sakura slid into the water.

She reclined, relaxing for what must have been hours because her mother was suddenly bawling in her room in a dead panic.

"Mom?" Sakura called.

She heard scuffling and then Cleo exploded through the door. The woman laid eyes on her child and then collapsed in a heap of muted hysterical sobbing.

"Mom?" Sakura whispered and sloshed some water over her white coughing chest where goose bumps had risen. "Mom? What is it?"

It took Cleo a moment to collect herself. Then, she said, "That boy ran off in the night and I saw that you were gone as well–" she sobbed "–I thought maybe he took you!"

Sakura shook her head. "I was grimy. I wanted a bath. I didn't mean to worry you, Mother," she said quietly and watched some of her pale tresses swirl on the surface of the bathwater.

Cleo stared at Sakura for a long moment and then carefully hugged her daughter. "I'm so happy you're feeling better, baby. Words cannot express how happy I am," she said. Then, she sniffed, daintily wiped her eyes, and straightened up. "Well, I'd better go speak with your father before he does anything rash." With that, she left the room and Sakura heard her bedroom door click quietly closed.

Sighing, Sakura rinsed her hair one last time and stood from the tub. Her muscles were soft and warm and a little bit stronger, not much but a little. She wrapped her naked figure in a fluffy towel, twisted the top shut, and wrapped her caramel tresses in another. Drying herself as best she could, she went to her room and pulled out a soft knitted dress of deep ruby-red. Slipping it on over her head, she pulled on thick red socks and pushed her feet into her favorite doe-grey suede boots lined with white rabbit fur. Finally, she donned her pink and white cloak, also lined with thick fur, and wrapped it tightly around her frail body. Finally, she pulled the front of her hair back with a white ribbon and made her way slowly downstairs.

The scents of stew, hot cornbread, apple pie and cinnamon, wood smoke, leather, and clean linen filled the house. Inhaling deeply, Sakura hurried to the kitchen.

Cornbread was steaming on the counter, smothered in shiny butter. Apples were cut and peeled, waiting patiently in a bowl with the shaker of cinnamon next to it. The crust spread out on the board, rolling pin lying next to it. Fai was leaning over the cauldron in the cooking fire, giving his stew a careful taste.

"That smells heavenly," Sakura said.

Fai gave a startled squeak and jumped. The spoon clattered from his hand, bounced off the rim of the cauldron, and splashed into the stew. "Bother," Fai said and then looked at Sakura. "Must you always sneak up on me, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura giggled. "I didn't even sneak that time," she said.

A warm large hand landed between her shoulders. "Kid, quit buggering the magician," Kurogane said and steered her sternly to a chair.

Sakura sat gratefully. She was about dead on her feet. "Is that about finished, Fai-san?"

Fai made a face. "Why does everyone ask me that? Is that all I mean to you? A hot meal?"

"No, of course not," Sakura said at the same time Kurogane snapped, "You got that right."

Fai's mouth cracked into a smile and he ladled out two bowls of stew. He handed one to each of them and waited anxiously for their seal of approval.

"There're no potatoes in this," Kurogane grumbled.

"The potatoes aren't finished yet," Fai said.

Kurogane hmphed and greedily polished off his bowl of stew.

Scoffing, Fai turned his attention away from the hunter and looked at Sakura. She was clearly enjoying her meal.

"This is wonderful, Fai-san," she said once she had finished.

Fai looked very pleased with himself.

"Don't get to happy, magician. She's been sick. That's the first thing she's eaten in two weeks," Kurogane said and tossed their bowls into the sink.

Fai vowed silently to make Kurogane pay sometime late at night.

Sakura smiled at her friends, drew her cloak around her shoulders tightly, and scooted from the room.

X X X

She wandered the halls of her home for the better part of an hour, just enjoying her life. Finally, she arrived at the door to her father's study and listened at the door. She could hear him turning pages and muttering to himself. Hesitantly, she knocked. Sakura was always slow to disturb her father when he was in his study even though he loved to see her for any reason.

"Come in," he said.

She eased the door open and stuck her head inside. "Father?"

"Sakura-hime!" His face broke into a marvelous smile. "Come in, come in. Sit by the fire, honey. You look so cold. How are you feeling?"

Sakura eased herself into a velvet wing-backed chair and said, "I'm feeling much better, Father."

"Good, good," he said and laid his book aside to give her his full attention.

They talked for a while, laughing and telling stories. Then, Charles's face grew very grave and her said, "Sakura, honey, there is something very important that I must tell you and I do not do it easily."

A knot of ice formed in Sakura's stomach and she croaked, "Yes, Father?"

Charles took a deep breath. "Baby, there's been some trouble with a neighboring kingdom and the war will only be held at bay through," he swallowed thickly and Sakura felt his next words breaking into her heart long before he spoke them, "an arranged marriage."

Sakura tried to hold the tears in her eyes at bay, but a few fell and rolled down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, honey. I know I promised never to do this to you, but…"

Sakura shook her head. "I understand your duty to our people," she whispered. She stood up and wobbled on her feet.

Charles rose and came to her side, but she stopped him before he could touch her.

"No, Father, please, I just need to be alone for a while," she said.

He bowed his head and murmured, "As you wish."

Sakura bit her lip to keep from crying and tore from her father's study. Her greatest hatred had come to rest firmly on her. Her body and soul and heart and mind were sold as a peace treaty like some common object. This new husband could do what he wished to her body: beat her, abuse her, torture and torment her, rape and use and fuck her like a prostitute if he so wished. Her soul was to be caged, not allowed to so much as walk in the sun without his permission. Her heart would be his to do with what he would. If he wished to break it or toss it away, he could. Her mind would be forced full of thoughts of him. No stray morsel would be allowed to enter.

Most of all, she mourned the love she would now never find for she had seen in a dream that her soul mate was not born of royal blood. At a young age, she had made her father promise never to sell her away, but… for the good of the country…

Good people murdered in a pointless, preventable war or herself, sold like an object.

She could never condemn others, only herself.

Without a doubt, her life was as good as forfeit.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?


	11. The Act Before Death

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I need some horror movies and something hot to drink. I'm sick now, too.

How about that new book? _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_! Woot for zombies! Yay!

X X X

By some sheer otherworldly guiding hand, Syao stopped for his first real dinner in several days at the same little inn that Ying-Fa had stopped in for the night. By some stroke of horrible luck, Syaoran had chosen the wrong fork in the path and was miles away with his swift pace and Syao's actions would drive a massive stake between the three who knew what he had done. Then again, maybe it was what brought them all together in the end.

Ying-Fa was sitting at a table near the hearth, alone, debating if she had enough money for a clean bed and a bath or if she was just going to sleep on the floor in front of the fire and sipping warm ale with her hot soup and bread. Her ink black hair was showing pale caramel at the roots, but she saw no sense in dying it again. She knew she was a twin now and would be careful. She had also smudged the whore's red paint from her mouth though the tick red dye still stained her petal-pink lips.

She wrapped her cloak tight around her shoulders and swirled the rest of her ale around the bottom of her tankard. Then, she saw him.

It was either Syaoran or Syao.

She couldn't be sure which twin she was looking at.

If it was sweet Syaoran, she was more than happy to see his kind face.

If it was violent and unpredictable Syao, she wasn't sure what exactly she was going to do. Maybe hurry away in the other direction.

As luck would have it, it was Syao.

He slapped a few coins down on the counter, frightening the elderly woman who ran the inn and requested a room with a bathtub. Ying-Fa stared enviously at the heavy pouch of money he had. Her own supply of coins was grievously small. Syao turned and put his elbows behind him on the counter while the old woman fetched him a key. His eyes fell on Ying-Fa and no recognition passed through his hard amber orbs.

A shiver went down Ying-Fa's spine and a lump of steel formed in her throat. She decided retreating as quickly as humanly possible would be her best choice. She would sleep under the bloody bridge before she stayed anywhere near this enraged man! She clutched her cloak tightly, not knowing it would be her downfall, and stood up hastily.

She was halfway to the door when the old woman handed Syao the key and gave him prompt directions to his room. Then, in an instant, Syao was upon her.

He slammed into her from the side, knocking her to the floor. Her head struck the corner of a table and her vision swam. He crouched over her prone body and gripped her by the front of her cloak. His lips pulled back over his teeth and her hauled her to her feet roughly. Whimpering, Ying-Fa tried to free one of her hands from the folds of her cloak and get a punch off on him, but to no avail. She was hopelessly tangled in it. Syao made sure her arms stayed that way as he dragged her, kicking and screaming, up the stairs that led to his room.

Before anyone could think to help Ying-Fa, he already had her in his room with the door locked and barred.

The air rushed out of Ying-Fa's lungs when he tossed her roughly onto the bed. Wrestling with her cloak, she managed to free her legs. Her skirt slid up over her thighs, exposing the pale cloth of her panties.

Syao wet his lips and she managed to kick him in the face while he was distracted. Blood rolled from the corner of his lips and his amber eyes roiled with insane rage. He slammed his fist into her face, once, twice, three times, until her vision was spotty and she tasted blood.

Then, he pulled the folds of her cloak open and spilled her face-down on the bed. She was too hurt and weak to move. Whimpering, she was forced to feel nothing but his hands. He deftly unfastened each button on her shirt, pushed it open, and dipped his fingers into the cups of her bra. His fingers wrapped around her nipples and gave them a rough little squeeze. Then, he shoved her skirt up over her hips, hooked a finger in her panties, and pulled them down to expose the soft pink slit of her very core.

Renewed, Ying-Fa rolled over and tried to get her foot into his crotch.

He caught her foot, glared at her, and twisted her ankle so hard that black threatened the edges of her vision. She was sure it was broken.

Syao forced her back onto her stomach. "Listen to me, slut, this will be much more pleasant if you cooperate and I'm not forced to hurt you anymore than I already have. You're a whore, aren't you? Your mouth is red and your roots are showing," he hissed in her ear. His fingers were hot on her tender flesh, probing between her folds almost gently. She heard a little of Syaoran in his voice when he whispered, "Alright?"

Whimpering, Ying-Fa nodded into the sheets.

"Good," he said quietly and then the crushing pressure of his hand between her shoulders abated.

She felt him slide her panties the rest of the way down her legs and toss them somewhere. Next went her skirt and then he slid her shirt from her shoulders. He struggled for a moment with the clasps of her bra and then pulled that off, too. She was bare before him, vulnerable and exposed. This was not how she had envisioned her very first time.

"Please, don't do this," she whispered.

He stared into her face, but still didn't recognize her. There was a frightening wildness in his eyes. They were the eyes of a man who had lost everything he possibly could and just wanted to die, but couldn't. He ignored her plea and peeled his shirt over his head. He unbuckled his belt and stepped out of his pants.

Ying-Fa was still bent face-down over the bed, ass poking out towards him lewdly, but she didn't dare try to shift position. Her ankle and head were throbbing. She turned her head so she could see him.

Syao was slowly kneeling behind her until her slit was at eye level. Then, he peeled her folds apart and inspected her for diseases, she supposed and closed her eyes. His touch felt almost curious, hesitant and gently touching her womanhood. When his fingers brushed her clit, she couldn't help the keening moan that rose from her throat and the way her hips bucked against his hand.

He looked as shocked as she felt.

His eyes fluttered and then he gently placed the tip of his tongue at her slit. His face wrinkled up and he didn't appear to enjoy the taste of her right away. Then, he drew another slow hesitant lick at the pink slit of her and the fluid he found there must have been to his liking because he slipped his tongue inside her. She felt him probing at her walls with his tongue, so long and rough, on her soft flesh.

Ying-Fa moaned.

Her juices wet his face and dripped from her slit and ran down her thighs. She was ashamed that she was enjoying her rape so much.

Syao's length was growing hard and full between his legs, twitching minutely. A bead of shiny precum gathered at the tip and rolled down the side like a drop of melting ice cream. The whore was writhing and moaning as his mouth explored her most secret reaches. He touched her little pearl again and she pushed her hips against him.

Before she came, he stood up and positioned himself at the entrance of her. He felt the muscles in her back ripple as she tensed for the intrusion of his cock. He wet his lips, spread her folds, and buried himself to the hilt inside her in one thrust. Her muscles roared down on him like a vice, clenching so hard it was almost painful. She whimpered and mewled in pain and her body quivered. He pulled out so that only the tip of him remained inside her and felt the aftershock of tremulous rippling in her inner muscles for a moment. Then, he slammed into her again.

Again, she cried out in anguish and her body rejected the foreign object invading her delicate cavern.

Syao bent low over her and reached around to cup her breasts. He tweaked her nipples and massaged her tits.

She continued to whimper in pain and thrashed against him.

For a whore, she was awfully unaccustomed to a dick inside her.

Puzzled, Syao grabbed her ass cheeks, one on each hand, and squeezed. This elicited no reaction. Curious again, he found her puckered little hole and pressed at it. She was still whimpering and writhing against his dick and ignoring his advances. Syao put two fingers in his mouth and wet them sufficiently. Then, he pounded a few short thrusts into her, rocking her frail body almost violently, and pushed his two damp fingers into her asshole. He tugged a little, spreading the tight muscles.

This time, she screamed. Her howl of anguish was so loud he felt his eardrums hammering hysterically. Immediately, he jerked his fingers from her little hole.

How could a whore be so tight and in so much pain when she fucked for a living?

Something was very wrong, but he didn't exactly care. He just wanted to fuck a woman before he died avenging his twin. He gripped her hips and ignored her cries. He pounded her, slamming into her over and over so that the only sound was the slap-slap of his pelvis as it struck her ass. Her breasts jiggled and she squirmed in agony beneath him.

Suddenly, he pulled out.

Ying-Fa almost sobbed with relief, but he only rolled her over. He grabbed her ankles and pulled them over his shoulders, crushing her thighs between their bodies. She was trapped, pinned down by his weight. Again, she felt the head of him at her slit and then he slammed into her again. This time, it felt as if he sank deeper into her and it was less painful. He pushed into her over and over, grunting.

Ying-Fa closed her eyes and tried to imagine that what he was doing felt good when it didn't.

He gripped her breasts, squeezing them roughly in time with his thrusts. Over and over, he struck something tender inside her, sending a strike of pain through her guts. Finally, she felt him seize up inside her and he hastily pulled out of her. Hot white cream spilled on her stomach.

Sickened, Ying-Fa turned her face away from the sight.

Syao touched her pussy again. He slid two fingers into her and made a scissoring motion to stretch her muscles. The sensation wasn't entirely painful, but wasn't entirely pleasant either. She whispered and he rubbed her pearl. Then, he gently touched her abdomen, encouraging her muscles to relax.

"I'm going to keep fucking you," he said. "You may as well try to relax and enjoy it."

Ying-Fa whimpered.

Syao spread himself on the bed, propping up against the headboard. His shaft was big and stiff again already, standing ready for her. "Come here," he said, "back to me."

"But," Ying-Fa whispered. She touched her butt and Syao felt a small stab of regret.

"I won't fuck your ass, I swear," he murmured.

Ying-Fa wet her lips and went to him. She didn't really have a choice.

He slid into her from behind, filling her and she could see his dick pressing out through her stomach. Nausea swelled in her gut, but she smothered it. He gripped her hips and began to guide her up and down, pushing into her over and over. It didn't hurt as much, but he was still a big thing shoved inside her. Ying-Fa tried to meet him, thrust for thrust, but to no avail. Finally, she reached between her spread thighs and touched her pearl. Instantly, a ripple of pleasure washed through her and she moaned.

Syao batted her hand away, guided her fingers to his balls, and replaced her fingers at her clit with his own. They fondled each other, moaning and groaning. Ying-Fa found herself able to meet him and his cock was beginning to feel less like an intrusion and more like a missing puzzle piece in her heart.

She was about to whisper his name in ecstasy, but he suddenly pulled from her and spilled hot cream on her breasts and belly.

Then, he pushed her onto her hands and knees and drove into her before he softened. Instantly, she felt his shaft grow hard and full again. She slouched down onto her elbows, allowing him deeper inside her. She moaned and thrust against him.

"Are you enjoying this?"

She nodded ashamedly.

"You can be on top, if you want," Syao whispered against her ear.

Ying-Fa felt a rush of heat in her womb, tightening and tingling. She felt herself nodding.

Syao pulled from her and lay back on the bed. His cock looked huge and stiff, like a pole she was going to impale herself on. Nervousness built up in her stomach like a brick wall. Biting her lip, she guided him to her entrance and impaled herself quickly, before she could change her mind. He filled her to the brim, hard and hot and smooth.

Ying-Fa began to work her body up and down on him. She moved in little circles and rocked forward and back and made a few little jumps to slam his head against her womb. She was moaning lewdly when he touched her nipples and started to scream in ecstasy by the time his fingers reached her clit.

"Pull out," he said suddenly.

Surprised, she allowed him to slip out and continued to rub the length of his shaft between the cleft of her folds and ass cheeks. Again, something hot and sticky spattered on her back.

Syao collapsed back, panting and Ying-Fa was able to survey the body of the man who had just taken her prized virginity by force. He was Syaoran's twin and therefore beautiful, but his body was far more chiseled and covered in pearl-white scars. The madness she had seen in his eyes was gone, replaced by exhaustion and sadness.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly.

She knew what he meant.

Suddenly ashamed, she gathered her clothes and dashed into the bathroom.

He didn't call after her and for some reason that troubled her. She quickly washed the stickiness from her back and belly and breasts. Then, she dressed again, washed her face, filled her canteen, and hurried from the room.

Syao was sitting up on the bed, dressed and looking morbid. For a moment, Ying-Fa feared he would decide to kill her.

"Wait," he whispered. His voice was that of a lost child. "Will you stay?"

She clutched her cloak to her chest, hesitated, and then shook her head.

Syao sighed. "Just as well," he murmured almost to himself, "I'm a twin."

Ying-Fa hesitated in the threshold, looked back, and their eyes met. Amber and jade green and something passed between them. Then, she whispered, "So am I," and was gone.

X X X

Syaoran had eaten a filling meal of rye bread and smoked ham and gotten himself a room with a bath. His clothes were clean and draped over the towel rack and the bathroom door. He was drying his hair, wet and chilled from his bath, when he felt a disturbance in his blood.

_Syao was alive,_ he soothed himself when his heartbeat felt too lonely. But his thoughts kept returning to Sakura, the girl her had saved. Her beautiful locket was still hanging around his neck. He needed money, but he couldn't bring himself to pawn it. Her beautiful voice and kind smile and warm jade-colored eyes kept flashing through his mind's eye.

He wondered why he kept thinking of her when he desperately needed to find Syao before he did something horrible and irreversible.

Then, there was the prostitute with her red mouth and black hair with pale roots showing. She had seen Syao, treated him even, but who would take in a twin and save their life? Twins brought calamity. As he thought it, that girl's family was probably dying.

He wet his lips and lowered the towel from his hair.

Until he found Syao, he was incomplete.

There was no such thing as _half_ a twin.

X X X

I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	12. The Fiance

Blah, blah, blah!

Look at how many updates I've hammered out after so long.

X X X

Sakura had taken a week to recover her strength, but now that week was up.

The dreaded day had arrived. The carriage was waiting in the drive and her bags were packed with the barest necessities and personal treasures. It was customary for her husband to buy her an entire new wardrobe and jewels and anything else she needed.

She was sitting in from of her vanity mirror, scraping her glossy caramel tresses back from her face with numerous combs and pins as was customary. She had also dusted her skin with pale pink blush and painted her mouth with dusty rose-colored lipstick. Her eyes were dull and disappointed so that she hardly recognized her own visage.

As was also customary, she was wearing the necklace her soon-to-be husband had sent her. It was a heavy black piece of obsidian with many sharp facets and framed by small blue stones of questionable origin. It had cut her chest so many times that Fai had to bespell it not to. Around her dainty wrists were many heavy bracelets of all colors: gold and silver with blue and pink and red stones. Charms of her family crest dangled from her earlobes in silver.

Her traditional clothing was to be the colors of her fiancée's family crest, in this case, dark cobalt and cream and black. It was a far cry from her family's pink and white and silver. She was draped in a beautiful gown of darkest cobalt-blue with many thick cream-colored ruffles at the throat and down the front of the skirt. The bodice was laced up tightly with a black ribbon, pushing her breasts into pale substantial cleavage spilling over the top of the corset.

Sakura looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror and didn't recognize herself. She looked gothic and deadly beautiful. For a moment, she couldn't breathe and felt a little faint.

Then, as suddenly, as it came, it passed.

Sakura lifted her silken black cloak lined with rabbit fur dyed deep blue and fastened the silver clasp. She gazed longingly at her favorite red and white cloak hanging mournfully in her closet, never to be worn again. She contemplated shoving this silky cloak into her bag and wearing the red one anyway, but quickly pushed the desire aside.

No bit of her mind was to be tied to this place anymore.

Tears burned her eyes, but she brushed them away.

She slipped her feet into black suede boots with a thick high leather heel and laced them up. Her ankle was aching and she wasn't sure why.

Finally, she lifted the sprig of pale pink jeweled Sakura blossoms with a translucent black veil attached to them, laid it over her head, lowered the veil over her face, put up her hood, and left the room.

She didn't look back.

She couldn't.

Downstairs, she bid her mother and father goodbye coldly. Kurogane clomped down the stairs behind her, carrying her two bags. Fai was already at the carriage, holding the reigns of the two midnight black horses. Sakura took a deep breath and sealed her beautiful wonderful life away.

She climbed into the carriage and gazed at the world through the dark black veil.

The horizon looked bleak.

X X X

What was to be her new home was a lovely castle made entire of dreary grey and black stone. From the high turrets, the family flag flew. It looked like a black bat outlined in cream on a blue background. Soldiers glared down from between the crenellations. They were hard stone-faced men. The portcullis was not raised and they were made to wait while the iron spikes were lifted. Inside the outer wall, the streets were deserted. Timid ashen skeletal common folk peeked out of shuttered windows. No children played, no one laughed, somewhere a baby wailed, and a man screamed in agony.

Sakura tried to block the sounds from her heart, but they stabbed through her.

This place was so different from Clow.

She listened to Kurogane and Fai whisper to each other in the front seat of the carriage. Fai gave the reigns a little slap and the horses hurried along a little more purposefully. Sakura's chest rocked emptily with the gait of the horses.

Finally, the carriage rolled to a stop in front of the inner wall and they were again made to wait while the portcullis was raised. The keep was tall and spindly and its turrets were twisted like the horns of a ram. It was downright ugly.

Fai opened the carriage door and offered Sakura an encouraging smile. She took his hand and stepped royally from the carriage.

Kurogane handed her two bags to the footman and then stepped back. They could go with her no father and she was not permitted to say farewell to them by tradition. Blessedly, she had said goodbye to Fai the night before. She had sat with him in the kitchen, bawling her eyes out in desperation and clinging to him. It was Kurogane who fortified her with brandy. She had bid them both farewells already and did not look back.

She waited while the doors were opened for her and then allowed a servant to help her shed her silken cloak. Her naked shoulders prickled with goose bumps and she repressed a shiver. She was led to the throne room where two men basked in blue velvet thrones.

One was large and boorish and at least four times her age. He had dark hair, but the locks around his face had bled harsh white. He stared Sakura down with beady yellowish eyes, one shone behind a glass monocle. His mouth was set in a grim predatory line. He was wearing a custom suit of black velvet with carved ivory buttons. His chest was decorated with many ribbons and pins of cream and a single sash ran from his right shoulder to left him. She hated him on sight.

The other was presumably her fiancée. He was young and she might have considered him handsome had they been meeting under different circumstances. His face was pleasant, but pasty pale and shiny with seat. He had long dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail. He wore small wire-rimmed glasses perched high on his long bony nose. Like the other man, he was wearing a suit of black velvet with creamy buttons, considerably less ribbons and pins, and single narrow sash. Sakura only felt a mild principal dislike of him.

As customary, she swept into a low and beautiful curtsy. The dress fanned out around her feet and her breasts swelled over the top of the bodice.

She heard one of the men shift.

"Rise, Sakura-hime of Clow," one of them said.

She straightened. "My lords?"

"My name is King Fei-Wang Reed and this is my first son, Prince Kyle," the larger man said by way of introduction. "You may lift your veil."

Sakura didn't want to. She was tempted to toss the black veil in their faces and flee, but she couldn't. She lifted the sprig of jeweled blossoms and the sheaf of thin cloth and lowered it to her side. Her jade eyes roved the room, searching for possible escape routes, checking out her fiancée and her father-in-law, and once again examining her ugly new home.

The future looked bleak.

She wet her lip, tasting makeup.

"She is beautiful, Father," Kyle said sincerely. "How lucky I am to have a bride who matches my stature. Not like my brother who married that warty wench," he said coldly and looked Sakura over from head to toe. "She even has a nice rack on her, Father, with good curves beneath that gown."

Sakura could have slammed her fist into his haughty white teeth over and over again until they broke out of his mouth, but she restrained herself. "I am glad my countenance pleases you, my lord," she said demurely and lowered her eyes.

Even the floor was bleak and ugly grey.

Kyle snorted, but said nothing when Fei-Wang glared at him.

The king waved his hand. "You may both go," he said. "The wedding is not until tomorrow when the last conditions of the treaty are closed. Only then may you consummate, Kyle," he said purposefully.

Sakura felt a lump form in her throat and she was very aware of her slender body not yet meant to bear the weight of children and her fragile barrier still in place. She was but sixteen, not yet close to seventeen. How could her father have done this to her?!

Kyle was holding out his arm and she took several steps until she could gently lay her palm over his. His skin was chilled and clammy. They walked through the lifeless monotonous castle, quiet and distant. Then, Kyle stopped before a big thick door and pulled it open politely for her. Sakura entered and was glad to see some color in the room though nothing beautiful or vibrant.

There were several low dressers carved plainly from glossy cherry-colored wood and a mirror encircled with gold. A fire burned in grate. The hearth was undecorated and plain grey. There was one window hung with heavy black drapes. The bed took up most of the room. It was massive and masculine save the heavy black velvet canopy and thick black curtains around it. The bathroom door was closed. Everything was plain and dull and lifeless.

Sakura already missed her pink and white quilt and her red cloak and all the color and life in the mountains of Clow. She worried she would be driven mad here, mad enough to cut her own skin just to see some color. "It's lovely," she lied because Kyle was looking at her.

He looked around the room. "It's drab," he said. "I'm colorblind and therefore lack the skill to decorate properly. Change whatever you wish as this is your room now, too."

Sakura felt her breath rush out of her lungs with relief. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she imagined.

"After all," Kyle continued. "You'll be spending most of your time here anyway."

And just like that, her heart sank again.

X X X

Sakura didn't realize night had come because heavy black drapes were drawn over the windows, but the servants did. They bustled in and packed more wood in the grate and heated the bath and brought up Sakura's bags. Kyle had been lounging on the bed, touching himself and reading while Sakura lingered with nothing to do. She had been pulling hairs from her arm when the footman laid her bags at her feet.

She almost thanked him, but stopped herself. She greedily dug through her bag and produced a few of her favorite books which she had taken from her father's study. She went through her things, happy to be touching the vestiges of her previous life. Then, she discovered something puzzling but not entirely unwelcome. Her red cloak had been folded and neatly packed away in the bottom of one of her bags along with a small but beautifully cut crystal. She recognized Fai's handiwork immediately. The cloak was a memory, something he had given her, and the crystal was a scrying implement. It was the equivalent of a crystal ball, something she could use in private to speak with him if she ever needed to.

Sakura could have cried with gratitude.

Kyle glanced at her, but said nothing.

Hastily, Sakura choked back her tears.

The servants left and they were alone again.

Sakura packed her cloak and the crystal away in the bottom of her bag and pulled out a nightgown. It was the only one she had brought, just something to get her through the night. She started for the bathroom, intending to change in private, and began to untie the ribbon of the bodice as she walked.

"Where are you going?" Kyle asked. He was staring at her like she was something to eat.

"To change, milord," she said demurely.

He grinned wolfishly. "Change in front of me," he ordered.

Sakura's face flamed with anger. "The treaty is not yet drawn fully," she said.

"So? No one has to know." Kyle glared at her slyly. "Unless, of course, you refuse me and my father rejects the treaty."

Sakura's blood boiled, but there was little she could do about her predicament. She was trapped like a rat. "Yes, milord," she murmured.

"Come closer," Kyle insisted. "Stand here at the foot of the bed."

Sickened, Sakura stepped closer and loosened the bodice ribbon. Her breasts swelled from their confines and the top of the dress slithered form her shoulders, exposing a peek of dusky nipple. Repressing a shiver, Sakura wriggled out of the gown and laid it gently over the foot of the bed. Then, she reached for her nightgown, but Kyle's chilly hand closed over her wrist. She looked into his lusty face and felt a spike of real fear for herself. She was going to have to spend the rest of her life with this man.

"Come on," Kyle crooned. "Just show me a little hint of your pussy. Just so I can jerk off real good in the bath. Come on, just a little hint of your juicy cunt."

Sakura's stomach was coated and in ice and bile rose in the back of her throat.

"Come on, just pull down your panties and bend over a little, reach around your plump ass and spread your slick lips. Just let me have a little look, Sakura-hime," he crooned.

"This is an indiscretion," Sakura whispered.

"No one has to know, unless…"

Biting her lip, she turned around, inched her panties down around her thighs, and bent over. She was reaching around herself to spread her nether lips when cool clammy fingers dug into her ass. Yelping in surprise, Sakura couldn't resist as Kyle dragged her backwards a few steps. His thumbs spread her for his eyes. She heard him inhale the scent of her sex and then something hot and slimy drew long and slow across her slit. Unable to resist him because of the treaty, Sakura stood stoically while Kyle tasted her. His teeth nipped at her pearl and his tongue prodded her entrance, but she gave him no reaction.

This was the only defense she had.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kyle pushed her away. "That was good. I can't wait to fuck your hot tight little cunt," he said and gripped his crotch. Sakura saw his length pressing against his trousers. He was huge and long and thick.

She suddenly felt sick.

Laughing to himself, Kyle went into the bathroom. Sakura hastily dressed in her nightgown and stashed her bags under the bed. Then, hesitantly, she slipped into Kyle's bed. By the time he emerged from the bathroom, she was able to pretend she was asleep and he did nothing else to her.

But, tomorrow, she would be his.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?


	13. The Ships Pass in Darkness

For some strange reason, the little XXX don't seem to be showing up separating my notes and chapter breaks. That's really messing with my head. I'm just going to hope they show up again because I'd really hate to have to go through all my stories and put in new breaks at all the asterisks.

Bugger.

X X X

Syao woke up with pain in his groin. The girl's cavern had been so incredibly tight that his tender flesh felt chafed. He was sickened by his actions and that sickened him even more than his acts. His conscience was returning and his blind rage was subsiding. He worried that when the time came to slaughter the rich family that had taken his twin that he would be unable to do it. The loss of his hatred was far more important and troubling than what he had done to the girl.

Rape.

It was such a heinous crime. It was the one that Syaoran had always despised even more than the men that beat their loving wives or abused their children. He hated rapists even more than the people that beat him and his twin.

And now, Syao had committed it.

Turning his face heavenward, Syao begged his brother's forgiveness.

He had been a virgin. He just wanted to know what the merging of bodies felt like before he died achieving his revenge. No one would so much as look at a twin, none the less touch one intimately like they were people capable of love. Now, with his Syaoran dead, he assumed it would be alright for him to bask in the pleasures of the flesh. The girl would not die simply because she had come into contact with half a twin. And he had been careful to pull out each time so as not to destroy her life with pregnancy.

He knew this vendetta would take his life at the greatest cost and destroy his heart at the least. With no rage left to fill him, the emptiness created by losing Syaoran would surely condemn him to a half-life as a drifting soulless shell.

He bathed and dressed in fresh trousers and a clean white shirt with loose sleeves. He fastened his sword belt at his narrow waist and ran his fingers through his tangled chocolate locks. Then, gathering his extra clothes, money, food and canteen of fresh water, and the blanket he had stolen from the bed, he shouldered his rucksack and left the inn.

X X X

Ying-Fa had been on the road far longer than Syao. She awoke at dawn's first light, packed away her thin bedroll, bound her twisted ankle, and wrapped her cloak tightly around herself. Then, she set off at a brisk pace down the shaded forest road. She bought herself a small breakfast of meat dumplings from a humble little roadside stand. The young man liked her and gave her an extra bowl of rice smothered in sweet sauce at no charge. She didn't smile flirtatiously at him, just thanked him, and continued on her way.

There was a painful tearing ache between her legs and inside her.

She did not feel like traveling, only like lying in a warm soft bed. Disturbingly, she wished to lie beside Syao, feeling his warmth and sinew and slender pale frame against hers. She wanted to feel her breasts pressing against his chest, nipples brushing his toned flesh, prickling sensuously. She dreamed of his hot hands touching her sensitive tender flesh, cupping her buttocks and breasts and sweeping between her legs. She wanted to feel his hardness filling her to the brim again.

But for each of these pleasant thoughts, there were as many chilling ones.

She thought of him forcing her face down on the bed, threatening her. She felt his hands wrenching her ankle, twisting it painfully as if he would break it. She recalled his mouth on her tender flesh, probing gently inside her. Then, there was the dominating way he had taken her from the top and from behind, pounding into her forcefully. There was the slap-slap of their bodies slamming together.

Ying-Fa limped along the road, trying not to think of him or her first sex.

She traveled grudgingly all day.

Night's dark cool fingers swept across the sky. Blue shadows stretched out across the ground and pink wisps decorated the skies. The last vestiges of sunlight crept from the sky and the stars trickled in. The moon rose, hung crescent and half, like part of a smile.

She stopped at another inn and spent the last of her money on a room and a bath. That night, she tried to make herself clean again.

X X X

Syaoran was unsure of where to go. He knew his brother was alive but he was not sure where to begin to look for him. He had spent the day wandering through a bustling gossipy town, hoping to find someone who had seen his brother.

So far, he had had no such luck.

The only thing he learned was a single truly troubling piece of information and he wasn't sure exactly why it bothered him so. The Princess of Clow had been given to the prince of the City of Badd. At first, he figured it was the idea of an arranged marriage that troubled him. Then, he learned the princess's name.

Sakura-hime of Clow.

Surely, it was the girl he had saved.

The girl who had saved him from death at her father's hand.

He owed her his life.

He still didn't know where to search for his brother, but he did know where to find the girl.

He decided to breeze through the City of Badd and look at Sakura's new home. He didn't know why he was driven to do so, but something quiet urged him in the back of his mind. He had a feeling that she needed saving and if he could not save her, then he owed her at least a look.

Packing his bags, he headed off. Unlike the other two, he traveled by night. Therefore, like two ships that pass in the night, he passed by the others on the road without knowing.

X X X

I hope the asterisks come back soon.

Did everyone notice Fei-Wang's City of Badd? Such a horrible pun.

This was such a short chapter because I can't do much with these three until I have them all in the right places, but with this they should be about ready to go without interruption.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	14. The Layered Gown

Blah, blah, blah.

I'm watching Mists of Avalon.

And I plan for this to be a truly long chapter.

X X X

Sakura woke up trapped in Kyle's arms and twisted in his blankets. Her nightgown was pushed up over her thighs and she felt the soft crotch of her panties twisted aside. Something was pressing inside her, something long and slender and chilly. She knew it was Kyle's finger, probing her innocent flesh, soiling her unwedded body.

She wrenched herself away from him, tumbling into a heap over the edge of the bed.

Kyle did not stir.

Sakura quickly fixed her panties and pulled down her nightgown.

Then, she went to the bathroom and stared at her face in the looking glass. Her eyes were red-rimmed and cast with dark circles and sunken way back into her head. Her hair was lank and greasy. Her lips were thin and pale and bloodless. She touched the bony curvature of her body.

Then, she drew a bath and washed the scent of fear-sweat from her hair. She slipped back into her nightgown and peeked out into Kyle's room.

The bed was neatly made, the fire flickered low in the grate, and the drapes had been drawn open. There was a beautiful layered gown spread out on the bed, waiting for her. Sitting on the bed beside it was a skinny young woman in an orange and gold frock. She had long dark hair twisted into many long plaits and tied with brown pieces of twine. Her face was plain, but beautiful. Sakura knew on her first glance that this was a young woman Kyle had forced into his bed on many occasions when he was lusty.

"Hello," Sakura said kindly.

The young woman looked up from her hands where they were clasped in her lap. She had a soft timid smile, hesitant and frail on her cherry-pink lips. "Good morning, Sakura-hime," she said quietly.

"Please," Sakura said as she approached. "What is your name?"

The young woman shied away. "Evay, if it pleases you, Lady," she murmured.

Sakura looked at her clasped hands and instantly saw the brand of scars on her wrists. A slave, she realized sadly. "Please, could we not be friends, Evay-chan?" she asked gently.

Evay looked up sharply and their eyes met for only a second before the slave looked away. "If it pleases you, Sakura-hime," she said.

Sakura sighed. She had hoped to find a friend here, but no such luck would fall so perfectly into her lap. She ran her fingertips over the fabric of the dress with appreciation for both the delicate embroidery and ruffles and many colored skirts.

"It is a beautiful dress," Sakura said.

Evay nodded. "I am to help you into it, Lady," she said.

Sakura lifted it and the entire thing came apart in many pieces and layers. Evay looked mortified, but Sakura let out a small giggle at the predicament of the gown. Then, she selected the center part of the dress, peeled off her nightgown, and slipped the pearl-white center over her naked body. Then, she fetched clean panties from her bag and started to pull them on when Evay stopped her.

"No, my lady," she said suddenly. "The dress is to be worn in parts with nothing underneath. Each layer is to be taken off slowly throughout the day until the consummation is made in the marriage bed."

Sakura looked at the heap of crumpled garments. "This is your wedding dress?" she asked.

Evay nodded. "For the noble ladies," she said. "The common folk have a simpler one of but three or four layers."

"But, no undies?" Sakura said childishly, hoping to elicit a laugh from the stoic slave.

Evay only shook her head. "No, it goes against tradition," she whispered.

Sakura put the panties back into her bag.

Evay lifted out the next layer of gown and helped Sakura pull it on over her head.

The first layer was stunning pearl-white, nearly translucent, with slits up the sides to the hips and a deep neck that exposed the tops of her full breasts and short fluttering sleeves that allowed her shiny shoulders to poke out. The skirt was knee length, maybe shorter on a taller woman but Sakura wasn't yet sixteen. There was pale gold embroidery all along the hems, twisting in beautiful unintelligible patterns.

The second was palest blue. The sleeves were tight and ended above her elbows. The neck and waist laced tight with white ribbon that ran down the expanse of her legs to the bottom hem of the second layer. Its skirt was pleated and ran to her ankles. Pearl-white flowers bloomed from the low neck.

The third was a shade darker, the color of water. Its sleeves were long, falling over her hands only a little and tying with pale blue ribbons. This skirt was slit to the hips like the first layer, exposing the pale blue fabric beneath and whispered on the ground behind her. The neck was high, tied neatly with a pale blue-white bow. This piece was unmarked by any embroidery or decoration.

The fourth was darker, the color of rain. The sleeves were loose and long. The skirt was slit to the waist in the front, back, and sides, showing much of the skirt beneath it. The slit pieces were short, ending at her ankles. This one was densely embroidered in dark blue, the same color as the next layer.

The fifth was the color of storm clouds or the wine dark sea. It had a low V-shaped throat and sleeves so long that they trailed on the ground beside her. The bodice that went over it was black trimmed with pearl-white and embroidered with bats of the same color. The skirt was full and solid, revealing nothing beneath, and trailed behind her like the train of a real wedding dress.

The sixth and final piece was a trailing black velvet cloak with blooming sleeves. It fastened up the front with many silver brooches with obsidian, sapphire, and opalescent stones.

Sakura felt weighted and she could do little more than shuffle along like a cow. Evay helped her slide her feet into the white slippers and then into the heavier black leather boots.

"Are you ready, Lady?" Evay asked.

Sakura took a deep breath and gazed down at her veiled body in its bridal glory. She felt sick and sweaty beneath all the layers of cloth, but she nodded.

Yes, it was time to sign her life away to the rat. For her people, the good people of Clow, she would condemn her soul to death.

X X X

The hall where the treaty was to be laid bare was as bleak and sordid as the rest of the ugly grey castle. There was a long glossy black table situated in the center of the room, dominating it. A long blue velvet runner rimmed with white ran down the center of it. Seated on one side of the long table was the royal family of the City of Badd. On the other, the royalty of the Kingdom of Clow.

Sakura glanced through her mother's eyes and glared into her father's. Then, she saw Kurogane and Fai on either side of her parents. Fai gave a little finger wave and Kurogane raked his eyes over her layered beast of a gown. She saw the laughter in the hunter's eyes and the love in the magician's and her anger abated. She couldn't blame her parents. They had little choice but to offer her in the hopes of stopping a war before it started.

Sakura took her seat at the head of the table as the piece up for bargaining. Evay spread the skirts of the gown out on the floor delicately and positioned herself behind Sakura's chair, looking down at her feet.

Kyle sat at the other end, leering at her.

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from stabbing him with her fiercest glare. Instead, she forced a smile.

She didn't pay very much attention to the proceedings as the terms of the treaty were agreed upon. She listened only when she heard herself stitched into the fabric of peace as an offering. Then, she allowed her mind to wander again. Her fingers wandered across the soft velvet of the cloak and then toyed with one of the brooches that fastened it. Finally, her father and Fei-Wang signed the treaty and shook on it. The ladies gave each other acknowledging nods.

Kurogane and Fai found a way to brush discreetly past her chair. Fai touched the top of her hand where it rested on the arm of the chair lightly and she felt a rush of warm emotions fill her. His magic, she knew, was soothing her. Kurogane grunted that she'd be alright and then they both were gone.

Sakura's mother came and hugged her farewell. Cleo left quickly, before she could cry.

Charles didn't spare Sakura a passing glance. Surely he expected to see hate in her jade eyes.

Sakura wished he would have looked at her, just looked at her.

The Clow family left and then she was alone again.

Sakura was trapped in Badd.

"Milady?" Evay whispered.

Sakura stood up and the many skirts swished around her legs like the brushing of a cat. Kyle was waiting for her, his arm extended for her. She took it and allowed him to lead her down the dreary hallways. Sakura felt as if she was marching to her execution.

In the throne room, they stopped. Fei-Wang was draped across his throne and a silver crown inlaid with pearls lie on a blue velvet pillow on Kyle's. Kyle's nimble fingers unclasped each brooch and they clattered to the floor in turn. Then, he gazed at her hungrily, lifted her hand, and kissed the back of it.

"My Princess," he murmured.

Sakura's skin crawled.

Evay brought the crown to him and he placed it delicately on the top of her head. It caught in her tresses and weighed as heavily as a death sentence on her head.

Kyle pushed the cloak from her shoulders and it pooled on the floor like blue blood.

Evay met Sakura's eyes for the first time and held them. Sakura saw pity in them and shivered.

The first layer was gone and the others would follow.

X X X

The fifth layer, the full dark gown with its rich black velvet bodice, hung heavy on her skinny frame. The crown of pearls was even heavier on the top of her head. Sakura trailed along behind Kyle as he haughtily strutted through the gloomy castle. Evay dragged behind Sakura, carefully arranging the skirts each time they stopped. According to Kyle, she would follow them until the end of the day, collecting the discarded layers of wedding gown.

They paused in the hallway to speak with one of Kyle's brothers–a fat young man with a red puffy face and a ruddy nose and a balding shiny skull. He was wearing a fat crown weighted with obsidian stones. His watery eyes raked Sakura's body like she was a piece of prime-cut meat.

A shiver went down her spine.

"What do you think of my new bitch-bride, brother?" Kyle asked and wrapped his arms around Sakura from behind.

She had a feeling he would have fondled her crotch or dipped his fingers into the cups of her bra to squeeze her nipples if there hadn't been so many layers of fabric between them. She resisted the urge to ram her elbow into his guts and get his slimy hands off her.

The fat man licked his meaty lips. "Beautiful."

They shared a look.

"Would you mind sharing at some point in the near future, brother?" The fat man asked.

Kyle grinned. "Sorry, but this nice piece of ass is all mine," he said and gave Sakura's ass a hard slap to demonstrate his point.

Evay flinched.

Sakura bit her tongue to repress her urge to punch him.

The fat one clucked his tongue. "Shame," he said. "I'd love to put my fat dick in her tight cunt."

Was this entire family perverted? Sakura wondered disgustedly.

Kyle made a sweeping motion at Sakura's chest. "Care to do the honors?" he asked.

Sakura's muscles tensed.

Kyle licked the shell of her ear and purred, "Don't worry, babe. It'll only be me that fucks you."

"I'd love you," the fat one said and his sausage fingers gripped the end of the tie of the bow of her bodice. He untied the knot and pulled the ribbon from the laces.

Sakura wanted to clamp her arms over her breasts, but Kyle had her arms pinned.

The bodice fell at her feet and then Kyle had his cool hands under the shoulders of her dress. He yanked it down almost violently.

With that, the fifth layer was gone.

X X X

The ceremony began promptly at noon.

Sakura was trapped in a bare room full of lighted candles for more than two hours with Evay while they waited for said ceremony to begin. She was fidgeting with the fourth layer of her gown, adjusting the hem and smoothing imaginary wrinkles.

Evay was just as nervous. She continuously touched the threadbare hem of her frock and shuffled through the room relighting the candles that went out each time Sakura scrabbled to her feet and fluffed her skirts.

Then, Fei-Wang came to walk her down the aisle and Sakura felt a wave of nausea swell under her ribs when she touched his chilly skin.

"You look lovely," Fei-Wang said.

Sakura's throat closed up and she was unable to speak.

"You're afraid," he said flatly. "I understand, but Kyle isn't as bad as he seems."

Sakura smiled nervously and allowed him to guide her through the equally bare and grey chapel. The pews were grey marble, carved plainly and squarely. The only color in the room was a cream-colored carpet that ran down the aisle and up to the altar. Faceless ugly people stared at her as she passed. The men licked their lips and sneered. The women coughed into black velvet sleeves and glowered at her from heavy-lidded grey eyes.

Then, Fei-Wang had freed her like a flopping salmon at the bottom steps of altar.

Kyle was waiting and took her hands. "You look good enough to eat," he purred.

Sakura felt bile in the back of her throat.

Then, Kyle slipped the fourth layer from her shoulders and let it lie there on the floor.

The vows were painful.

"Do you, Prince Kyle Reed of the City of Bad, take this woman in mind, body, and soul to be your loyal wife so long as she shall live?" The reverend asked. His voice was droning and bitter.

Sakura shuddered when Kyle gripped her fingers tightly, smiled, and said, "I do."

"And do you, Princess Sakura of the Village of Clow, give yourself to this man in mind, body, and soul as a good wife so long as you shall live?" The priest stared through her remaining layers almost in what could be construed as pity.

Kyle enjoyed watching her stricken face immensely as she croaked, "I do…"

The priest bound them to each other in the sanctity of sacred marriage.

The ceremony was short and bland.

When the ceremony ended, Kyle stripped her of her third layer. Evay gathered it quickly.

Then, he kissed her deeply and lewdly. He forced his tongue between her teeth and probed her wet cavern. He was like a sour piece of meat, slipping and sliding around inside her mouth. She choked on his tongue. Finally, he pulled away, grinning at the assembled crowd.

They strolled down the aisle arm in arm. Kyle smiled and grinned and waved and fondled her ass occasionally.

People congratulated them. Women gave Sakura gifts of gowns, jewels, perfumes, sexy lingerie, and a vial of something to prevent pregnancy. Kyle was given a shining new sword with a jeweled hilt, a suit of black velvet, and something sexual that Sakura didn't want to think about.

Sakura felt naked in only her final two layers of the wedding gown. She knew that there was only one layer to go before Kyle took her to the bedroom and had her body in full. She shuddered, wishing for the dreams of a husband she chose for herself and loved, for someone she _wanted_ to give herself to.

After the guests left, led home by sober servants as they swaggered and vomited from excess drink, Kyle grinned wolfishly and led Sakura through the hideous halls back to his room. Outside the door to their shared chambers, he stripped her of the second layer and handed it off to Evay.

The servant girl glanced piteously at Sakura and scampered off without another word.

Sakura shivered with cold in the light translucent shift. Her nipples were dark pink against the cream-colored fabric and standing out with cold. She drew her lip between her teeth and bit down hard to keep the tears at bay as Kyle cupped her breasts through the shift.

"I've been waiting for this all day, Sakura," he whispered and pressed her back into the door, pinning her between his body and it. "You have no idea how painful and hard my dick has been since I woke up with the scent of you in my hands. And I didn't have time to get a wank in before the day started."

He grinned. "As my new bride, I doubt that will be much trouble for me anymore as I can always slip into your nice tight cunt," he said and slid his hand between her legs.

She was dry and tight and he frowned.

"Aren't you turned on by me?"

She shook her head jerkily.

Kyle's eyes narrowed. "Well, I'd get turned on bitch or your first fuck is really going to hurt!"

He opened the door and Sakura spilled back into the room. She nearly fell, but managed to haul herself back on her feet before her butt hit the ground. Kyle closed the door, shrugged from his velvet suit jacket, loosened his tie, and toed off his shoes.

"Come on, undress me," he snarled.

Sakura's hesitant trembling fingers couldn't unbutton his shirt fast enough for his tastes. He pushed her away and did it himself. Then, he shimmied out of his pants and peeled down his socks. He was still holding his tie in one hand when he stalked toward her with his dick erect and dripping. It was the biggest thing she had ever seen, but then again she had never seen. She hoped he would fit inside her without tearing her apart.

Fear-sweat slicked through Sakura's scalp and ran down her back. She didn't realize she was backing away from him until the backs of her knees hit the edge of the bed. She went down on her back, cushioned by pillows, and Kyle was instantly upon her.

He slipped between her parted legs, cock catching on the folds of her short shift and momentarily preventing him from slamming into her. He kissed her again, savagely ravaging her mouth, biting and sucking hard on her lips as if they were slices of juicy meat. Sakura pushed at him weakly.

His hands caught the edge of her shift and dragged it over her head.

Then, he gripped her breasts, pinching and twisting her nipples painfully. She whimpered and tried to prevent his entrance into her by tightening her thighs. For a moment, it did, but then he gripped her knees and shoved her legs apart.

He made a few blind thrusts, stabbing at her thighs and her soft curls and ass. Finally, he found his mark and slammed into her. His dick was massive, too huge, and would not fit into her all the way. At least three more inches of him showed between her snatch and his hairy base. He appeared puzzled by this and thrust his hips harder, pummeling the entrance to her womb.

Sakura whimpered and dug her nails into his shoulders. It hurt like nothing she had ever felt before, even worse than the time she broke her arm or cut her hand on a knife.

Suddenly, Kyle gripped her to his chest, turned, and flopped back on the bed. This put her on top and gravity bore down on her. Impaled on his massive dick, Sakura felt something inside her begin to tear. Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her sweaty face. Kyle made a short thrust, spearing her with even more force than before.

Sakura's muscles clenched and protested as he slammed into her body over and over, harder and harder. He grunted like a hog and she cried like a child. After what felt like an eternity of endless pain, something hot filled her. The wetness dribbled out of her and stained his stomach.

Panting, Kyle gripped her short caramel tresses and dragged her face down to his mouth. Kissing her violently, he groaned, "You're so fucking tight, but small. How old are you?"

"Fifteen," Sakura whispered and her voice cracked with anguish.

Kyle made a face of puzzlement and then pleasure. "Fifteen, huh?" he repeated. "I've never fucked such a young cunt before. Do you think the younger the bitch, the tighter the pussy?"

Sakura felt sick.

Ignoring her, Kyle slid from her ravaged body and glowered at his dick. "See, look how much cum built up from seeing you today. Clean me up, Sakura," he ordered.

She started to rise and fetch a cloth rag, but he stopped her.

"No, with your mouth," he ordered and put his hands behind his head.

Sakura swallowed and bent over his stomach. She hesitantly licked the pool of liquid on his and almost threw up. She had never tasted something so disgusting. It was salty and thick and hot and the taste stuck in her mouth long after she had swallowed.

Reeling with nausea, she looked at him pleadingly. "I can't," she croaked.

Kyle glared. "You can't?"

She shook her head and more tears welled in her eyes. "I'll be sick," she whispered.

"You'll be sick?" he repeated, disbelieving even as she nodded. "Well, bust my balls," he snapped. "My wife won't take my seed."

Sakura's shoulders shook with sobs.

"I'll fuck you again, slut," he growled, "in the asshole unless you swallow it all."

Sakura sniffled and thought of her tight little hole. It wasn't meant for sex and surely would hurt even more than penetration in the _correct_ orifice. With no other choice, she licked away the semen from his stomach and then wrapped her mouth around his cock to clean away the disgusting juices. She tasted herself on his flesh and was nauseated anew.

While she cleaned him, he hardened again.

Kyle took her from behind, pushing into her doggy-style and gripping her breasts as they jiggled with each violent thrust. This time he came on her exposed butt and back and made her wipe it off with a towel from the bathroom as she couldn't lick behind herself.

Exhausted and traumatized, Sakura got maybe half an hour of sleep before she felt Kyle, hard and eager, against her slit. He pulled her out of bed and pinned her against the wall. He pounded into her from behind again, slamming her chest and hips against the stone wall with each thrust. When he was close, he pulled from her and forced her to take him into her mouth. When his disgusting cum sprayed down the back of her throat, she retched.

Kyle struck her across the face, hard enough to bruise the porcelain flesh. "Swallow it all," he growled.

Then, he let her sleep again. After an hour, he was awake and ready to ravage her again.

This time, she tried to get away, maybe lock herself in the bathroom, but he caught her and tied her to the big bed by her skinny wrists.

"No, please! Kyle, husband," she pleaded. "I'm hurting and I'm tired. Please, stop!"

But he didn't. He just laughed each time she whimpered in agony when he took her.

And he did take her, maybe fifteen times in just that one night.

She tried not to count, but there was little else she could do as the hours of the long wedding night ticked away. Every hour or so, he woke up, hard and horny, and fucked her mercilessly. Her legs were dribbled with cum and blood and her slit was stuffed with his thick seed. Her breasts were bruised from his hands and her face ached where he had struck her.

Yet, when the morning dawned, Kyle was as energized as if he had slept the entire night through. He glanced at Sakura, still bound to the bed, curled on her side protectively, and went into the bathroom. She listened to him filling the tub and then singing as he bathed. Finally, he emerged looking fresh and clean, dressed, and left the room. He left her there, tied to the bedposts like a soiled possession that he no longer cared for.

It was only then that Sakura allowed herself to break down and cry.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?


	15. The Knight in Shining Armor

I know it's Ying-Fa and Syao's turn for a chapter, but they're not up to much right now. Syao is on the prowl and Ying-Fa is limping along traveling to nowhere in particular. So they would have a very short, very boring chapter of nothingness that I have decided to forgo.

Syaoran and Sakura are the ones that need to play catch up, anyway. So, on with the show.

Does anyone actually read author's notes?

X X X

Evay came in a few hours after Kyle left and Sakura cried herself into an exhausted sleep. She untied the young woman, covered her naked used figure up in the sheets, and drew a hot bath for her. Evay was loathe to wake the young woman. She looked peaceful and happy in her dreams, but the nightmare would catch up with her upon waking. Sighing sadly, Evay gripped her shoulder and shook the girl lightly. Sakura groaned, whimpered, curled deeper into herself, and then hesitantly cracked open one jade-green eye.

"Evay?" she croaked hoarsely. Her mouth tasted dry and sour and salty.

The slave-girl nodded. "I've drawn you a bath, Sakura-hime, if you care to get out of bed," she said quietly.

Sakura swung her naked legs over the edge of the bed and wrapped the sheet around her body as she stood. Pain stabbed through her middle like a hot knife and she choked on a cry of agony.

"Sakura-hime?" Evay asked.

"I'm fine," she croaked, "just a little sore." Tears stung behind her eyes.

Evay gazed at her pityingly as she staggered toward the bathroom. "Sakura-hime?"

"Yes?" Sakura said and stopped to breathe heavily against the doorframe.

"I," Evay hesitated. "I have a cream to soothe the pain, if you would like some, milady?"

Sakura nodded gratefully. "That would be wonderful, Evay-san," she said and closed herself into the drab grey bathroom. For a moment, she was tempted to drown herself in the waiting tub, but something gripping tight in her chest stopped her from giving into the primal urge.

She wouldn't be sure exactly what stopped her until later.

After she bathed and was lying, soaking, in the tub, Evay returned to the room. She knocked quietly on the door.

"Evay?"

"Yes, miss."

"Come on in," Sakura said and folded her palms over the worst of the hickies on her beaten body.

Evay skirted nervously through the room. "Here's the cream, Lady, and some fresh clothes."

"Thank you," Sakura began, but Evay had already barreled frightfully from the room.

Sighing sadly, Sakura rose from the tub and toweled herself off. Her womanhood felt swollen and sticky though she had cleaned it out well in the tub. Her skin was tight and itchy and her bruises ached at the slightest touch. Sakura applied Evay's cream to the worst of her pains and scraped her hair back into a loose and messy bun. Then, she dressed in the gown the servant had brought her. It was pale violet and made of the finest satin with long loose off-the-shoulder sleeves.

Feeling only slightly better, Sakura wrapped herself in her ugly black and blue cloak against the chill of a stone castle.

Then, she went to the window and looked out.

The courtyard was barren of flora or fountains. It was cobbled with grey stone and had a shiny black path winding through short dry brown hedges. It looked almost like a maze. At one place, Sakura spotted an opening, barred heavily but an opening nonetheless, that looked out into the City of Badd.

Excited, Sakura pushed her feet into black leather boots and slipped out of Kyle's chambers.

X X X

Syaoran hated the deserted City of Badd on sight. It was hideous and grey and lonely, like a mausoleum. Surely the beautiful vibrant girl who had saved his life was suffering here. Maybe that was what drew him to this place: the thought of her in peril.

Shouldering his pack a little more securely on his back, he made his way slowly down the deserted grey streets, wandering like a lost urchin.

A few eyes peeped out at him from between drawn black shutters. Rats and cats skittered in the garbage and rubble between the houses. A baby sobbed somewhere. A woman screamed and moaned, panting and grunting in agony or pleasure.

He looked up at the ugly keep at he walked. For a moment, he saw someone at one of the windows and then the person was gone.

He continued down the street.

A cat yowled.

Then, he saw the break in the wall ahead. It was heavily barred and viewed only a few dry hideous hedges and a shiny black path.

Something stopped Syaoran at this break, made him wait there.

But why?

X X X

Sakura made it downstairs and through the door that led to the courtyard without being caught. She slipped outside, enjoying the scent of fresh air. Then, she made her way swiftly through the maze of hedges to the break in the wall that she had seen from her window.

Standing on the other side of it, as if waiting for her, was the boy who had saved her from the sickness.

Syaoran.

It was far too good to be true.

She stopped dead in her tracks and stared.

He appeared just as surprised to see her as she was him.

"Syaoran-kun?" she whispered softly.

"Sakura-hime?" he responded equally as quietly.

Drawn irresistibly toward the bars, Sakura gripped them in her cold hands. Syaoran came just as close, but did not touch her.

"How did you find me?" she whispered.

"I… really don't know…"

For a moment, they just stood close to each other, not touching.

"There's a bruise," Syaoran said finally, "on your face."

Sakura's cold hand lurched to the dark mark and hid it from Syaoran's view. "It's nothing," she whispered.

"What happened?"

She was silent.

"What happened?"

"I've been married off to Prince Kyle as a treaty against war."

Syaoran waited, but when she did not continue he prompted, "And the bruise?"

Sakura laughed bitterly. "My wedding present."

Syaoran felt bile rise in the back of his throat and Sakura's jade-green eyes filled with tears. She covered her face with her long-fingered hands and sobbed. Her entire body trembled and shuddered as if it would break apart.

Syaoran reached through the bars, hesitated, and then touched her. His fingertips grazed her cool skin, satin-soft and porcelain as he remembered from the side of her sickbed. He shushed her. "Sakura-hime, it's alright. It's alright," he whispered.

She without lowering her hands, she fell into the bars. She pressed as close as she could to him with the bars impeding her and sobbed into his chest. He was blessedly warm and hard with muscle, sinew, and bone. He cupped her shoulders in his warm hands and pulled the cloak around her tighter.

"Please, Syaoran-kun," she sobbed. "You have to help me!"

He didn't know what he could do.

"Please," she whispered, unaware of his thoughts. "Please, help me… Help, Syaoran-kun…"

Suddenly, her locket felt hot against his skin, burning hot, searing his skin black and peeling. With a cry, he pulled away and fumbled at his collar for the chain.

"Syaoran-kun?" Sakura gripped the bars tight in her hands. "What is it?"

He pulled out the locket and sure enough it gleamed red-hot. Once it was dangling free of the confines of Syaoran's shirt, it appeared to cool rapidly, swiftly turning gold again.

"The locket?" They both whispered in awe.

Then, the jewel slowly melted and the molten emerald bled throughout the heart until it reached the seams of the two pieces. Then, the jade disappeared inside the locket.

"Open it," Sakura whispered.

Syaoran did.

The emerald had spread in a heart-shaped pool of reflective stone and waiting there was Fai's smiling face. "Hello Syaoran-kun," the magician said cheerfully. "I take it you've gotten close enough to Sakura-chan for me to speak with you through her magical gift."

Syaoran looked at the princess and then back at the locket and then back at her. Then, he passed the necklace to her through the bars.

"Don't jostle me so much," Fai complained. "I'm getting nauseous."

"Fai-san!" Sakura said gleefully.

"Sakura-chan, so you are with the boy then?"

She glanced through the bars at Syaoran as he examined his chest. It was unblemished though pale and slightly scarred. "You could say that," she said.

Fai's face wrinkled in frustration. "I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan. Kuro-poo and I planned to spring you before your wedding and kill the entire royal family, but I didn't expect him to be so eager for you." He paused. "What happened to your face?"

"Nothing," Sakura said quickly and Fai slammed down on her like a steel trap.

"Tell me the truth."

"He hit me." Her jade eyes flit to the side.

"That little bastard," Fai snarled.

There was a sudden commotion and screams.

"I have to go, Sakura-chan. I'm sorry!" Fai said distractedly and then he was gone.

The stone went dark, melted again, and bled back into the hooked claws where it had originally been.

Sakura sniffled. She missed Fai.

She started to pass the locket back through the bars to Syaoran, but he stopped her. "Maybe you should keep it," he said.

She shook her head. "I have a stone to communicate with Fai-san. Besides, I gave this to you. I want you to keep it, please," she murmured.

This time, he took the locket from her cold cupped hands.

Sakura glanced back up at the hideous grey castle and shivered. Syaoran reached through the bars and gripped her hand tightly in his own.

"Sakura-hime, if you need me, every morning I will wait here for you. If you need to, come down and I'll be here," he offered and smiled beautifully. "Will that help?"

She smiled through her crystal tears. "Yes, I'd like that very much," she whispered. Then, leaning through the bars, she pecked him lightly on the cheek and whispered, "I feel like I've known you a very long time."

A tingle went down his spine.

"Be careful," she whispered and pulled back from him.

For a moment, jade met amber and melted. She leaned in toward him and felt his breath on her lips. Her eyes slid closed and Syaoran's warm hand cupped the curve of her jaw gently. His fingers twisted through the ends of her caramel hair.

Then, Evay hauled the window open upstairs and looked out.

Startled, the moment shattered and they both lurched away.

The servant called hoarsely down, "Sakura-hime! He's coming up! He'll beat us both if you're not here."

Biting her lip, Sakura mumbled an apology, tore her hands from his, and ran.

Syaoran was left holding cold iron and wanting to murder this Kyle for simply being alive. Then, he fastened Sakura's locket around his neck again, smoothed it beneath his shirt, and hurried away to find night's lodging.

X X X

Evay helped Sakura from her cloak and boots and then packed a fire in the grate to warm the girl's icy skin. She was jittery, nervous, and high-strung with too much energy. Sakura was giddy with relief at speaking to Fai, seeing Syaoran, and having a friend outside these bleak castle walls.

"Lady?" Evay whispered.

Sakura didn't hear her, lost in her joy.

"Miss?"

Startled, Sakura looked at Evay's pale drawn face.

"I wouldn't go out to him, milady."

"Who?" Sakura asked.

"The man on the other side of the wall."

"Why?"

Evay looked at her hands and then smoothed her dirty brown skirt. "These stones have eyes," she whispered. "And cheating on the prince would be a lashing for you, maybe worse."

Sakura shivered and murmured, "I know. Thank you, Evay-san."

Nodding, the servant quickly backed from the room.

Sakura went to the window and looked out at the gap in the wall. Through the bars, she saw only the deserted streets. Syaoran was already gone.

She perched in the window seat, smoothing the satin of her gown delicately across her thighs. She was still a bit sore, but the thought of someday, soon, escaping this place made the ache seem trivial. With Kyle and the City of Badd behind her, Sakura could one day share her bed with a man she loved. It wouldn't be her first time as she had dreamed, but it would be real love, not this forced arranged bondage of hearts.

She was smiling when Kyle entered the room and shrugged out of his cloak.

"Ah, home to my chambers and my lovely wife," he purred and crossed the room to where Sakura was sitting. He sat beside her, tugged off his boots, and then put his cool hands on her thighs. "Have you decided what you'd like to change in the room yet?"

Inwardly grimacing as Kyle eyed her breasts and licked his lips, she said, "Nothing. I like it fine the way it is." _I want you to die in this hideous crypt, you monstrous buffoon! _she thought to herself, but outwardly smiled.

The smile shattered on her face when Kyle said, "Good," and pushed his tongue into her mouth.

Then, he took her again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And _again…_

Questions, comments, concerns?


	16. The Twisted Timeline

Blah, blah. It's been _**forever**_ since I last updated.

X X X

"How could you do that to her?" Kurogane demanded. His long fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword. He looked as if he would draw and slice Charles in two at any moment.

After Fai abruptly hung up the magical device with Sakura, he whirled around and glowered at the hunter, Kurogane. Once again, the over-protective hunter, who cared nothing for anyone but Sakura and secretly Fai, had engaged in a violent shouting match with Sakura's father. The situation was heating up and escalating rather quickly.

"So you'd rather I place the lives of all my people in danger?" Charles shouted back. His face was burning as red as Kurogane's eyes.

Cleo was a crumpled heap in her chair, sobbing into her long-fingered hands.

Fai sighed. He had known this match of morals was coming.

The carriage ride home had been so tense that it was hard to breathe. The only sound had been Cleo's sobbing, which had yet to cease. Kurogane, selfish and powerful, thought nothing of the big picture. Charles, weak and idolized, hated himself for what he had done to his daughter, but he had no other choice.

Kurogane's self-righteous shouting was only making the already raw situation uglier.

Fai sat down heavily in one of the chairs that had been drug from the kitchen and waited for the two shouting men to exhaust themselves. Breaking them up now would only lead to another fight later with the emotions they hadn't released. It was a vicious circle.

Fai cradled the warm crystal in his palms, gazing at the glossy facets. Sakura and Syaoran had somehow met in the City of Badd and that could go one of two ways: very good or very bad. The other twin was in a race against time to kill Cleo and Charles for "murdering" Syaoran. If he got here before Syaoran and Sakura, he would either be killed or succeed in killing them. The other girl, Ying-Fa, destroyed by Syao was on a slow path behind the other twin, tugged along by an invisible string. The four of them…

Fai sighed heavily.

What a mess of tangled strings.

The room fell quiet. Charles and Kurogane were huffing and puffing. Cleo had cried her red eyes dry.

"Are you quite finished?" Fai demanded sourly.

Charles glowered at Fai, but didn't have the energy or anger to so much as threaten the cook. Kurogane glared at Fai as well. Cleo sniffled.

"Well, I think that turned me to stone," Fai said plainly. "Kuro-pon, we have work to do."

Grumbling, Kurogane sheathed his half-drawn sword and followed Fai as he left the manor.

Now, it was up to them to alter the course of history that was rolling along the timeline. Right now, if they didn't do anything: Sakura would be caught sneaking to see Syaoran and they would both be killed. Syao would go to the manor, murder Charles and Cleo, and then take his own life. Ying-Fa would drift through her life as a shell and starve slowly to death after being caught and raped by bandits that beat her and left her for dead.

The future was bleak.

X X X

Sakura knew she shouldn't be seeing Syaoran. She knew Evay was right and that doing this was a danger to herself and to him, but… in such a hideous place, she was desperate for the companionship that everyone in the castle denied her. So, every morning, she allowed Kyle to fuck her, waited for him to leave, then bathed, and snuck down to see Syaoran. He was always to beautiful and bright, waiting for her patiently there on the other side of the bars.

Today, he was bearing a small but wonderful gift and a smile. "Hey, Sakura-chan," he said when he saw her. "How is everything?"

"Better now that I get to see you," she said and reached through the bars to awkwardly hug him. His arms were warm and safe, wrapping over her back and holing her close. Her dreams were no longer of killing Kyle in his sleep and escaping to return to Clow, but of hugging Syaoran without these blasted cold iron bars between them.

"I brought you a present. It's not much though," Syaoran said and handed her a badly wrapped parcel.

"Thank you!" Sakura said and smiled broadly. She eagerly unwrapped the brown paper and revealed a soft leather-bound book. She opened the first page to find it was a book of poems written by, dare she think it, Queen Miranda of Badd. "Someone from here wrote these?"

Syaoran looked a little sheepish, but he nodded. "I was shocked, too. I thought you'd enjoy that."

Sakura looked up at the spires of the ugly castle. "So, maybe this place used to be beautiful…"

"That's certainly a thought," Syaoran said with a small laugh.

Evay heaved up the window and called out, "Sakura-hime!"

Sakura gasped and looked longingly at Syaoran. "I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded and stepped to the side, out of view from the windows. "I'll be waiting."

"That won't be necessary." Kyle's voice went down her spine, shooting into her heart like a knife. "Considering what I see here, my guess would be you two can see each other every day in Hell!"

"No!" Sakura screamed.

Guards came marching up the alleyway outside, surrounding Syaoran, giving him no chance to escape. He looked desperately at Sakura, but there was nothing she could do. The spears were lowered threateningly, but Syaoran raised his hands in surrender immediately. He didn't struggle as they clapped him in irons.

Kyle grabbed Sakura by her hair and jerked her head back. "My bitch-bride, tsk, tsk," Kyle said and shook his head sadly. "I was so pleased with you, too. What a shame, what a shame!"

"Please," Sakura gasped. Tears pricked at her eyes, burned the back of her throat.

Kyle looked up at the window. "And you, slave, you knew about this! You'll received your punishment!"

Evay's eyes welled with tears and she silently closed the window.

Sakura's belly filled with lead and tears made cold trails down her cheeks.

Syaoran's beautiful amber eyes filled with desperation, rolling wildly.

Evay was a pale wraith at the window, watching sorrowfully.

This was wrong.

This was all wrong!

And it was all her fault…

X X X

Ying-Fa stopped at a little roadside stand for a bowl of hot rice and fish. Her ankle was throbbing. She was exhausted, having gotten no sleep last night. The sky was bleak and dark with storm clouds and the first drops of cold rain were beginning to fall. Yeah, life didn't appear able to get any worse right now. Ying-Fa gave the man who ran the stand back his bowl, pulled her hood up over her head, and continued limping down the muddy road in search of some shelter.

There was a troupe of traveling gypsies on the road ahead, camped out. Ying-Fa could hear them singing and laughing and smelled wonderful food. She wondered if they would allow her to spend the night as she trudged closer.

The gypsies were gathered around a fire, under a big tent with a hole in the center for the smoke and heat to escape. The rain was evaporating before it hit the fire, but a few drops sizzled occasionally. There was a big cauldron in the coals, releasing a wonderful aroma. Ying-Fa's mouth watered. The gypsies looked friendly, chattering and laughing, rocking children and kissing cheeks.

She swallowed a bit nervously and called out a hesitant, "Hello?"

Immediately, all eyes were on her. She didn't get a chance to explain herself because the young woman who appeared to be in charge of this little troupe leaped to her feet and bustled over to Ying-Fa. "Hello, hun, come on! Get out of the rain! Come, sit by our fire and explain the world!" She said cheerfully and peeled Ying-Fa's wet cloak from her shoulders. "Dominique, hang this to drip-dry."

"Of course, Esmeralda," a small thin girl with short blonde hair said and smiled at Ying-Fa.

"So," Esmeralda said and sat down beside Ying-Fa in a swirl of purple silk skirts. "A fleeing whore we have in our midst. Feel to obligation to speak. Gypsies are non-prying. Your secrets are yours and your reasons are yours. Care for some soup when it finishes?"

"Um, yes. Thank you," Ying-Fa said quietly.

"No need for that," Esmeralda said with a small laugh. "This troupe is safety in numbers."

"But–"

Then, Ying-Fa saw something that shot a finger of ice through her very core.

Twins!

Two twin girls, hair done up in the same fashion and wearing the same clothing so there could be no mistake, were sitting around the cauldron adding chopping ingredients. They were smiling and laughing, together, and no one around them seemed afraid.

"You have twins?"

Esmeralda smiled and said softly, "My own babes."

"But twins bring calamity," Ying-Fa whispered.

"Only to superstitious ninnies," someone at Ying-Fa's elbow said.

"There is nothing wrong with twins," Esmeralda said. "The world is so close-minded. We accept all people regardless of what they look like, hun. This is the world we have created here in this troupe."

"Wow," Ying-Fa breathed.

Esmeralda smiled at her and then the two twin girls began to pass out bowls of soup and tumblers of thick milk. Everyone smiled and touched them, unafraid, and the girls were together. Esmeralda kissed their cheeks as they walked by her. One girl handed Ying-Fa a bowl and when their fingers touched, the twin smiled beautifully and Ying-Fa saw her own face.

"Where is your twin?" The girl asked.

Esmeralda smiled and said, "Now, now, Honey, we do not pry here."

Ying-Fa was not scorned for existing.

X X X

I was going to do a short thing for Syao but he's just trudging through the rain being all negative and grouchy, so we'll just leave him out for now.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	17. The PLAN

I started another Kingdom Hearts story. I would love it if my wonderful readers followed that story too!

I'm planning on wrapping The Shattered Mirror up fairly quickly. I think I was having so much trouble with it before because I was trying to drag it out, but I really didn't set myself up for too much more plot. Everyone is too spread out and there's not enough side stuff going on to permit much more. So, it is what it is, and I'm going to wrap it up. Figure it's over by Chapter 20! Yay!

X X X

Sakura slumped against the cold stone wall of the dungeon, listening to the retreating footsteps of the guards. The cold of the underground was seeping through her thin satin gown, penetrating her bones and heart. She put her hand to the side of her face where blood was cold and stiff in her hair. Kyle had hit her, knocking her out. She was just starting to come back to her senses now.

"Syaoran?" she croaked in the darkness.

For a long moment, there was no answer and Sakura began to sob. Then, Syaoran groaned faintly and she heard scraping on the stones.

"Sakura," he whispered. "Are you okay?"

She watched his thin white hands grip the bars separating their two cells and he pulled himself up from the floor into a half-sitting position. His face was streaked with blood and sweat and his lip was split. He had been beaten, maybe tortured, to what extent Sakura couldn't tell in the dimly lit chamber.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "This is all my fault."

"No, it's not. It's probably mine."

"Yours?"

He nodded. "I'm a twin. It's the curse of the twins."

Sakura shook her head, but she had nothing to say to that. "To bad the curse seems to be after us and not these horrible royals," she muttered.

Syaoran jolted beside her. "Say that again."

Somehow, Sakura found the will to joke. Maybe she was happy to be spending her last days with Syaoran. "That again."

He glowered at her, amber eyes shining in the torch light.

Sheepishly, Sakura repeated, "To bad the curse is after us and not the royals of Badd."

"That's it!" Syaoran said eagerly and dragged himself to his feet.

"What's it?"

"The curse! The curse is finally going to work to our advantage."

Sakura stared at him as he paced, staggering wildly every few steps. She heard his feet kicking bones across the floor of the cell and his breath rattling in his lungs. She shivered with cold, wrapping her arms tightly around herself and trying to stop her teeth from chattering noisily.

"I don't understand, Syaoran."

"What are twins?" he said excitedly.

"Um, people?"

"Mirror images and what happens if you break a mirror?"

"You get cut?" Sakura said. "Syaoran, did you hit your head?"

"No! Seven years bad luck so everyone is cautious with mirrors."

Sakura's jade green eyes lit. "And your mother placed a superstitious curse on anyone who harmed you or Syao!"

Syaoran grinned. "We use the curse to our advantage."

She reached through the bars and hugged him tightly. "That just may work!"

"Hey, Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you know Syao's name?"

Startled, she took a moment and thought about it. A dream, she knew it from a dream, from a voice in a dream… a dream of another girl on the other side of a mirror… A girl whose voice was like hers and whose eyes were like hers… An almost mirror image that did not move with her.

A startling disturbing idea occurred to Sakura.

She blinked at Syaoran and smiled so broadly it almost unnerved him. "I think I'm a twin, too," she whispered.

His eyes bugged but he managed to keep his brain on track. "Alright, to pull this off, we're going to need outside help."

Sakura nodded. "The locket. It connects to Fai," she said.

Syaoran nodded eagerly. "Yes… how do we work it?"

Sakura wrinkled her brow. "Actually, I don't know…"

Syaoran made a face as he fished the locket from beneath his shirt. It was miraculous that Kyle hadn't found and taken it.

X X X

The rain had stopped, though quiet drops still fell through the trees and pattered on the canopy overhead. The ground was cool and moist, smelling of earth and flowers. The air was rich and clean and the sky was thick with a blanket of clouds, warming the earth below. Esmeralda had invited her to stay the night. Ying-Fa was sleeping among the gypsies, feeling safer and more at home than she had been since Setsuki's death. Snuggled deep in a fleece-lined blanket, she drifted off into a dream-filled sleep.

A big claw-footed golden and jeweled ancient full-length mirror was standing before Ying-Fa. The quicksilver was crystal clear, beautiful and glossy, polished to painfully bright. As before, Ying-Fa was staring at her reflection in the mirror, but unlike before it now showed her true face. The whore's dye was gone from her mouth and hair, releasing the natural caramel color and petal-pink flesh.

This time, she did not waste time wondering what was going on. She smiled at her somber reflection and said, "Hello."

"Ying-Fa of Runes, correct?" her reflection replied.

She nodded. "Are you going to tell me your name this time?"

"Sakura of Clow," the other girl said. Then, she asked, "Where are you?"

"Camped somewhere outside the City of Badd," Ying-Fa said and eyed Sakura. "Why?"

"Really? That's wonderful!"

"Wonderful?"

"Yes, now I know this is going to sound very strange but I need you to go into Badd. Lives depend on this."

Ying-Fa lifted her brow. "Are we twins?"

"Yes and I need your help."

"But the curse…"

"The curse is exactly what we need."

The two girls stared at each other.

Then, Sakura said, "Damn. I didn't really know what to tell you. I hope I can communicate with you again like this."

Ying-Fa wet her lips and asked, "What's happened?"

X X X

Fai hung up the magical device and allowed himself a small giggle. The kids had had much difficulty contacting him through the locket. Most of the time, they were speaking in squeaky voices and the screen had been upside-down, but they were doing several better than Kurogane and Fai.

The might have been tortured.

They might have been in a dungeon.

They might have been facing imminent death.

But they had a plan!

"Kuro-pon, we have more work to do!" Fai said cheerfully.

The only unstable and unknown element of the plan was Syao.

X X X

I know, I know. Really skimpy and crappy and short, but I need to lay out some ground work before the dazzling finale. I might have already said too much just in this chapter. Oh well… all shall be corrected in later chapters. Try to stick with me!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	18. The Army of Curses

I really want to just wrap this story up. Where is the end?

X X X

Court moved quickly in the City of Badd. Within three short days, Sakura and Syaoran were hauled before King and Judge Fei-Wang. Kyle was sitting on a plush chair, looking pathetically saddened. Syaoran's left eye was swollen shut and the blood had dried on his face, peeling off in places to show the chalk-pale skin beneath. Sakura was gaunt and thin, shivering wildly in the sunlight. Her face was streaked with dirt and tears. Standing in shackles on the wooden platform, looking down on the assembled crowd of citizens here to watch the proceedings, they waited.

There was to be no hearing, no justice, nothing.

The penalty for this, for having a "lover," was death.

Syaoran would die.

Sakura would die.

End of story.

The executioner was waiting eagerly, swinging his axe experimentally.

Sakura scanned the crowd, searching for a very familiar face. Beside her, Syaoran's cold shackled hand gripped hers. He could barely see through his swollen eyes.

Then, the executioner took Sakura by her hair and led her to the block to have her head chopped off. Sickened, Sakura knelt. The block was covered in a thick layer of dried blood. Hair was cemented into the blood. Maggots and insects writhed on the old blood.

Suddenly, the sky darkened, swirling ink black with storm clouds. Veins of ice-blue lightning threaded through the blackness.

Syaoran pointed at the sky, rattling is chains, and then into the crowd where people were stumbling back to allow a young woman dressed in a blood red gown through. Ying-Fa ascended the stairs that led to the high platform where Sakura was awaiting her death.

"A twin!" Syaoran screamed. "They're twins!"

Below, people began to protest and scream.

"No! No!"

"The curse of the twins will destroy us all!"

"You mustn't kill a twin!"

"No! The curse with doom us all!"

"A twin!"

"Twins!"

"The curse will destroy us!"

Kyle was on his feet, shouting at the assembly below. "Shut up! It's a trick! All of you, it's a trick! A trick to save their pathetic cheating lives!"

Fei-Wang put his monocle to his eye. "It is a twin," he whispered. "The girl is a twin!"

Thunder screamed through the sky. It was so loud that it sounded like the earth was breaking apart. More lightning lit the sky, blooming like petals and tongues of flame. Cold rain drops began to splatter the ground, soaking everyone to the skin except for Sakura and Syaoran.

Through the crowd, more twins began appearing. Esmeralda's twins leading the pack behind Fai and Kurogane. Fai's eyes glowed faintly with the proof of his magic assaulting the sky, but it was too ethereal for anyone to understand.

Sakura had to force herself not to smile. She stood up and the executioner swung his axe at the side of her head. Fai's eyes sparked and the axe exploded into a thousand shards of metal, whirling in a maelstrom around Sakura's body.

Syaoran continued pointing, half-blind, at the army of twins below.

"Hello, Fei-Wang!" Fai called up cheerfully. "I see the curse is steadily seeping through your family." He winked at Kyle and a long gash slithered down the side of the prince's face.

Screaming, Kyle clutched his face as blood spurted from the wound. "Father! Father, kill them!" he howled.

Syaoran started shouting. "It's an army of twins! Clow's army is an army of twins!"

Kurogane shouted up at the king, "Free the girl now and we won't destroy this place."

"You think it will be that easy?" Kyle screamed down at them. "Father, destroy them!"

"Go ahead, fight us! Every twin you kill, the curse will be unleashed upon you tenfold!" Fai shouted. "An army of twins? This city will fall to ruin within hours!"

Fei-Wang stood up as if to scream down a challenge to the assembled army, but looking into all those identical eyes, his courage just left him. He knew if he fought them, the curse would destroy him. He looked over to where the executioner was slowly being cut apart by the whirlwind of his shattered weapon where the shards swirled around Sakura. Her face was turned to the stormy sky, eyes closed, lips curved in a smile. Her twin, the girl in the red gown, was at the crest of the stairs now.

The red blood-colored silk fluttered around her legs. Silently, she went to Syaoran and gently cupped his face in her hands. Immediately, the wounds on his face dissolved and his beautiful amber eyes opened clearly. Then, she slowly turned and looked right at Kyle. The wounds began to materialize on the prince's already bloody face. Blinded, he stumbled, screaming, and fell into the crowd below. His body hit the ground, broke with an audible crack, and Kyle lay there writhing in agony.

The executioner finally fell and lay very still. The whirling shards of weaponry halted stone-still and appeared to search for a new victim. With lightning speed, they shot to Fei-Wang and began to circle him. Terrified, Fei-Wang raised his hands to protect his face.

Then, he howled, "Alright! Take the girl! Take the boy!"

Sakura grinned and one by one the shards of metal began to tinkle to the ground.

"Just LEAVE! And take the curse with you!"

The sky whirled and cleared, revealing the beautiful blue beyond the darkness. Smiling, Sakura walked to where Syaoran and Ying-Fa were holding out their arms to her and slipped into their embrace. Below, the army of twins also reached out and embraced each other. Esmeralda's girls put their hands on Fai and Kurogane's shoulders.

"You've made the right choice," Sakura said.

Fai called up to the king. "And pursuing us in a war would result in the same curse bestowed upon you," he explained.

"Have a nice life, you bastard," Kurogane said.

Then, in a swirling puff of acrid smoke, everyone was gone, vanished like they never were. The only proof was the dying executioner and Kyle screaming in agony of a broken body. A fork of lightning struck the ground where the army of twins had been standing, leaving a big black scorch mark on the dirty cobblestones.

"Shit," Fei-Wang whispered. He sat down heavily in his throne, looked up at the blue sky, and thanked the gods that the curse was gone from his city.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?


	19. The Halves Reunited

Blarg!

One more chapter!

Where on Earth is Syao? He is the only one I don't have tabs on! Someone always has to be in the wrong place. Grr and, throughout this story, it's always him! He's a problem child! Bad Syao! And he of course is my troublemaker with his brooding and being all negative.

*shouts* Syao, get your butt over here with everybody else!

Hurry up! Right now!

Sorry, on with the show.

X X X

Fai's magic transported them from hideous Badd back to beautiful Clow easily and Sakura found out that the army of twins had been an illusion. The only people that had really come to their rescue were Fai, Kurogane, Ying-Fa, and Esmeralda's twins.

Esmeralda's twins were eagerly looking around, admiring the beautiful world around them. Clow was so small and out of the way, closest village being Runes, that the gypsy troupe would never have ventured into a place like this.

Exhausted, Sakura sat down heavily on the plush grass and Syaoran collapsed to his knees beside her.

It was good to be home, away from Badd's cold ugly grey stone walls, and back to the beautiful fearie circle of Sakura's trees and the perfumed air swirling with pink petals. People were bustling around, laughing and talking, smiling.

Clow was _alive _with activity and excitement.

It was so good to be home.

Sakura didn't realize how much she missed it.

Sighing heavily, she flopped back on the grass and Syaoran's warm fingers brushed some hair from her face. She smiled and gazed up at him. "We made it," she whispered.

"We did," Syaoran said quietly.

"Phew!" Fai said and also sat down. He leaned back on his hands, reclining comfortably. "I've never used so much magic at one time! Between those swirling axe shards, the illusion army, the weather, healing Syaoran, and hurting Kyle. I'm beat!"

Kurogane grunted and put his foot in the magician's side. Fai ignored him and lay back in the grass, folding his hands neatly behind his head. He closed his eyes and appeared to drop off to sleep so Kurogane just ignored him.

Ying-Fa knelt next to Sakura and ventured, "You're my other?"

Sakura turned to Ying-Fa and smiled brightly. She sat up and gently hugged her. "It's great to finally meet you."

No more words were needed between them. It was like they had been friends, been close forever. That was the bond that twins shared. They were two halves of the same whole and now that she was close to Ying-Fa, she wondered how Syaoran had lasted so long without Syao at his side. She felt that if she was separated from Ying-Fa again, it would feel like a big part of her soul.

The girls gazed at each other for a long moment, gently holding hands.

Kurogane towered over Syaoran, Sakura, Ying-Fa, and Fai. Then, as close to happy as the hunter would ever get, he said, "It's good to have you home, kid."

Sakura smiled. "It's good to be home," she said. "Thanks for coming to save us. That worked perfectly."

"It was an ingenious plan, Sakura," Fai said.

"Actually, it was Syaoran's plan," Sakura said and smiled at him broadly. "You were incredible."

Syaoran's cheeks tinged pink and he looked away.

For a long time, the seven of them remained like that, resting and looking around and enjoying the beautiful world.

X X X

Then, shattering the stillness, there was a loud scream from the manor.

Syaoran sat bolt upright, eyes rolling wildly. "It's Syao! Damn it!"

"Mom and Dad!" Sakura shouted, lurching upright with grass plastered in her caramel-colored hair.

Syaoran scrambled to his feet and charged off towards the manor with Sakura hot on his heels. Fai and Kurogane were on their feet in a split second, tearing after the kids at top speed. Ying-Fa rocketed after them all.

Esmeralda's twins, who had no idea what was going on, were left standing there in the dust.

…

Syaoran slammed through the big double doors, slipped on the floor where there was a big pool of blood, and went skidding across the marble. Sakura managed to grab the doorframe, preventing herself from sliding after him. Fai and Kurogane, being far behind the kids, saw what was happening and stopped long before the threshold. Ying-Fa slammed into Fai's back, sending them both sprawling.

For a moment, Syaoran lay stunned on the marble floor, staring at the high ceiling. Then, Sakura was at his side, dragging him to his feet.

"He's here to avenge you! Find him, Syaoran, find him!" Sakura desperately jerked him to his feet. "Please, don't let him kill my parents!"

The scream came again and someone clattered down the stairs. Cleo spilled across the floor in a heap, red-brown hair spreading across the tile. She didn't look injured, but she was sobbing and whimpering and there was blood smeared all over the front of her white satin gown.

Upstairs, there were horrible sounds.

Syaoran pushed away from Sakura and bolted up the stairs. He would have stopped to tend Cleo, but Sakura was already kneeling at her mother's side.

Ying-Fa scraped herself off of Fai, picked over the puddle of blood, and charged to Sakura's side. She couldn't look at Cleo and consider her a mother, but Ying-Fa was a healer. Cradling Cleo's head in the bend of her elbow, Ying-Fa lifted her and put her palm to the side of Cleo's face.

Cleo's eyes opened and she whispered, "Sakura, you're home… The boy you saved… is killing your father…"

"No, Mom," Sakura said and bent over her face from the other side of her mother's body. "I'm Sakura. This is my twin, Ying-Fa."

Cleo's eyes widened. "My twins… together?"

"Yes," Ying-Fa said softly. "Twins are meant to be together."

Cleo closed her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I had to do what I did to you. I had to separate you to protect everyone."

"Well, now Clow is going to be known for having a twin army," Sakura said with a small giggle.

The chandelier trembled, crystals rattling and clinking. There was a horrible loud sound upstairs and Sakura could hear Syaoran's shouting. She bit her lip and gazed at the ceiling. Ying-Fa looked up as well, still cradling Cleo. What was happening up there…?

…

Syaoran raced from room to room, searching for his twin. He hurled open the last door, the door to Sakura's room and there, tucked just inside the threshold, Syao had his sword at Charles throat. Charles' eyes were bugged out of his head, blood gushing from a wound in his side.

"Syao!"

Syaoran slammed into his brother from the side, sending them both sprawling across the floor. Syao's sword bit into Syaoran's thigh and he tried to get his knee into his assailant's gut, but Syao was effectively pinned.

"Stop, Syao! Stop! I'm alive!" Syaoran shouted, continuing to hold down his twin. "Damn it! STOP!"

Suddenly, their eyes connected and Syao stopped struggling.

"Syaoran," he whispered and the sword clattered from his limp fingers. "You're alive…"

"Yeah, yeah. It's okay," Syaoran whispered.

Syaoran got up and pulled his twin to his feet.

Syao hugged him tightly, clutching his twin against him, and his shoulders shook with sobs. "I've thought you were dead," Syao whispered. "It was so hard not knowing…"

Syaoran nodded. "I know, but right now…" He glanced at Charles slumped form, eyes staring widely at them in panic and fear. Blood was slowly spreading across the floor, seeping through the carpet. "We need to take care of all this," he said and gestured to Charles.

Downstairs he knew Sakura and Ying-Fa were waiting with bated breath.

…

Everything had worked out.

Sakura and Syaoran were alive.

They had managed to stop Syao.

Ying-Fa had found a place in the world.

The curse of the twins was a useful myth.

Clow was now feared because of the army of twins.

Everything turned out alright. Life was perfect and beautiful.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?

Next chapter: Epilogue!


	20. The Epilogue

Last chapter.

YAY!

Everybody knows the drill!

X X X

For little more than a week, everyone remained in Clow Manor.

Charles remained in the manor under Fai's watchful blue eyes, healing slowly. Kurogane was also under Fai's watch. (Kurogane wanted to go raging off to Badd and destroy Fei-Wang and Kyle regardless of the fact that they had already won this battle with their army of twins.)

Esmeralda's twins went through the tunnel and explored Runes, spreading the rumors of Clow's twin army and just enjoying the sights.

Ying-Fa, Sakura, and Cleo spent every waking moment together. They spent time walking through the beautiful blooming Sakura trees, visiting Hiruka who only smiled mysteriously when she saw the three of them before diving into the still pool, and eating sweet ice from a traveling vender.

Syaoran and Syao also spent all their time together, trailing almost absently behind the girls.

Then, eight days drew to a close. Esmeralda's twins were impatient to return to the troupe.

Hugging Sakura tightly, Ying-Fa confessed that she wasn't going to remain here in Clow with her sister. "I'm sorry, but I just…" She looked at Cleo. "You may have given birth to me, but Setsuki will always be my mother." She held Sakura hands tightly in her own. "And as much as it pains me, I want to leave. I've found something really special with the troupe. Esmeralda… I feel like she's saved my life." She smiled at them both and said, "I have to go."

Sakura nodded. "I understand. Just like I have to stay here. This is my home and I've missed it, but Ying-Fa I want you to come visit us whenever you can."

"You will always be welcome here," Cleo said softly and held Sakura's shoulders in her hands.

Ying-Fa smiled at them. "I will, besides," she glanced at Esmeralda's twins who were still admiring the Sakura trees and the beauty of Clow even as they were leaving, "I think someone likes it here. We have a certain home here as well." She went to Syaoran and looked up into his face.

Syaoran smiled down at her, amber eyes impossibly soft and loving and oh-so-taken.

Ying-Fa hugged him tightly as well and whispered, "Take good care of her."

"Of course…"

Syao restlessly shifted behind Syaoran, shuffling from foot to foot, looking ashamed and embarrassed, like a child caught with is hand in the cookie jar. Ying-Fa looked over Syaoran's shoulder at him. Pulling away from Syaoran, she went to Syao and looked up at him with her big jade-green eyes.

"It's not alright," she whispered to him, "But I forgive you. I think… this all happened for a good reason."

Syao bit his lip and then timidly stepped toward her. He looked so small, so vulnerable, curving in his shoulders as if to protect himself form something. "I'm sorry. I just never thought… a twin was worth love…" he confessed. "I wanted to know what it felt like to be with someone like that…"

Ying-Fa's eyes welled with tears and she gently touched his hand where it was fisted in his shirt. "You should come with me. Come live in the troupe for a while. I thought that, too, until I met them," she whispered. "Now, I believe that anything is possible."

"Really?" His amber eyes shined like stars, glowing.

She nodded, petal-pink lips curving into a soft smile.

"But Syaoran…" he whispered, desperately glancing at his brother's back.

Syaoran turned to face his twin and smiled. "Go with her. I'm going to stay here," he glanced at Sakura and reached out for her. She came easily into his arms, putting her back to his chest. They fit together so perfectly, as if they had always been two pieces of a puzzle.

Syao wondered if he and Ying-Fa could ever look like that. After all, they were all twins.

"Maybe with time, Ying-Fa, it'll be alright again," Sakura murmured as if reading Syao's mind. "Maybe you two will be alright again. Maybe you could…"

"Maybe," Ying-Fa said and smiled.

Then, into the bright dewy morning, Syao, Ying-Fa, and Esmeralda's twins left the peaceful town of Clow behind.

Sakura dug her fingers into Syaoran's arm, feeling a part of her being pulled away. Surely he felt it too, but gave no outward signs. He had been separated—no, _torn away_—from Syao before. Hell, he had once thought his twin was dead so maybe this willing separation was not so hard on him. As the others reached the mouth of the tunnel that led into Runes, Ying-Fa and the twins turned to wave. Syao did not for a moment, but suddenly he turned and smiled at Syaoran. It was the first real smile Syaoran had seen on his twin's face for years.

"This is what's best for them," he whispered. "They need to learn love."

Sakura turned, wrapping her arms around his waist and holding him tightly with nothing cold and horrible between them like she had always wanted to in her dreams. He dipped his head, but for a moment they both hesitated, feeling nervous moist breath on each other's faces. Then, Sakura lifted her chin and met his lips with the lightest kiss.

Everyone had to go their separate ways. Twins might have been one-half of each other, but they were separate people. Sometimes, the path of life was split in two and sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes it rejoined in the future, sometimes it didn't.

Maybe Ying-Fa and Syao would grow to love each other while they lived with Esmeralda's troupe. Maybe she wouldn't ever trust him, maybe she would grow to trust him with her very soul. Maybe his actions—his violation of her—had driven a stake between them for the rest of time, maybe not.

The future was not set in stone.

Only one thing was certain… there at least was a future now!

X X X

It was two weeks later and it was late. Rain was pattering against the windows and the fire flickered low and hot in the grate. Sakura was sitting up reading, resting back against the pillows. She was just beginning to nod off, book sliding through her fingers, when Syaoran slipped into her room. He moved quietly and almost mischievously, sneaking through the shadows. He pulled up the covers at the foot of her bed and wormed his way beneath them. Then, he burrowed up between Sakura's parted legs, laying his cheek on her stomach.

Sakura woke with a start and yanked the covers up.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"It was lonely and cold in my room," he whined.

Sakura giggled, laid her book aside, and snuggled down beneath the covers beside him. Syaoran wrapped her safely in his arms and nuzzled against her breasts.

"Hey Sakura…?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you," he confessed. "I think I have since I laid eyes on you."

"I was dying then," Sakura whispered. "I think it was just you being at my side that saved me."

He hugged her tightly. "I wish we could stay like this," he whispered.

"Why can't we?"

"Because you're a princess and I'm just a…"

Sakura kissed his cheek. "Maybe you should have gone to learn love with Esmeralda's troupe, too."

He smiled against her skin. "I know I love you," he protested.

"Good," Sakura whispered and kissed his lips lightly. "Because I love you, too."

"You do?"

He didn't get a chance to be more shocked than that because Sakura fiercely rolled him over and crashed her lips to his.

"Wait, wait! Sakura!"

She grinned and murmured, "A lady can't wait forever for a man to make the first move, now can she?"

"So, you want this?" His face was pink and flushed in the firelight.

"Of course!" She giggled and ran her palms down his chest. "You have no idea how long I've been dreaming about you. I wake up in the morning and I'm like this," she pressed her moist heat against his hips and groaned. "I was getting impatient. Why do you have to be so slow, Syaoran?"

His cheeks painted bright red with embarrassment. "I was afraid you'd reject me."

Sakura stopped and gazed into his eyes. "I love you, Syaoran. I want to share everything that I am with you," she whispered and gently kissed his lips. "Don't you want that, too?"

He touched her back, fingers pushing beneath her shirt to feel her naked flesh. "Yes," he whispered.

Sakura kept him pinned to the bed with her hands and kissed him fiercely. He touched her legs, ghosting his fingers over her smooth bare thighs. She moaned into their heated kiss and sucked his lower lip into her mouth. He groaned in bliss and cupped her buttocks lightly. She pressed her pelvis down hard on his growing erection and rocked her hips.

"I want you so badly it hurts," she whispered.

The way his erection was straining against his pajamas was painful, too. Groaning, Syaoran hooked his thumb in the crotch of her shorts and panties and pulled them down her legs. She rolled off of him and almost desperately undressed herself. Syaoran pulled his shirt over his head and shimmied down his pants.

Naked, Sakura pinned him again, straddling his hips. He could feel the heat coming off of her center, stoking the fires of his arousal. She grinned and licked his throat, lingering on his pounding pulse. Her naked skin pressed against his bare chest, nipples hard against him.

Sakura reached between their bodies and gripped the long hard length of him. Timidly, she guided him to the entrance of her and sheathed him inside with one quick thrust. He filled her to the brim, warm and solid and a bit painful. He waited a moment, watching the play of emotions in her eyes.

She remembered the way Kyle took her, brutally and cruelly, thinking nothing of her pleasure. She was so lost in her thoughts that when Syaoran's fingers gently pinched her clit, she gasped and clamped her muscles down around his shaft. He groaned and stroked the sensitive nub, feeling her buck and writhe beneath his touch. Suddenly, her muscles seized down on him tightly and a rush of hot liquid seeped around his cock.

Her first orgasm.

Sakura cheeks tinged pink and she smiled sheepishly. "That was wonderful," she whispered.

Syaoran sat up, pushing himself deeper into her cavern, and she moaned. He kissed her, tongue darting into her open mouth. He clutched her against his chest and somehow managed to flip them both over without pulling himself from her. He lay above her on the mattress, settling nicely between her parted thighs and fitting inside her like the missing piece of a puzzle. He dipped his head to suckle her breasts, but she guided his lips to hers and kissed him deeply.

"Start moving, Syaoran," she whispered. "Please, move."

He obliged her quickly and willingly. He lifted her thighs over his shoulders, sinking deep inside her, and began to thrust powerfully. For a moment, the only sounds were the slap-slap of his hips against her butt, sounding almost like applause. Then, Sakura began to moan in time with his thrusts, begging him to go deeper and harder and faster. Sakura's breasts bounced with the force of his thrusts.

Slamming into her frantically, Syaoran felt the pressure building in his middle, winding up like a coil. Sakura's breath became ragged and wild. She dug her nails into his shoulders, crying out in intense pleasure. Once again, he felt her muscles clamp down on him and that sent him spiraling over the edge. She felt his hot seed filling her, spiraling deep into her womb. He trust weakly a few more times and then pulled from her.

Sakura's thighs immediately felt cold and her core felt empty. "Syaoran, will you go back inside me for a while?"

He smiled at her an gently pulled her onto his chest. Blindly, he found her center and pushed deep inside her. She gasped and moaned even as they joined again and she felt him begin to twitch back to life. Eagerly, she rocked her hips in a tantalizing fashion.

"Sakura," he groaned.

"It's going to be a long night," she whispered.

And that was fine with him.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?

And, _drum roll please_, we are finished!

Here we go.

Very _important_ author's note:

First, drop a review and let me know what you think! Are the characters way out of character? Does everybody hate Kyle? Think I torture Syaoran way too much (but it's because he's so easy to be mean to, though I always make sure to give him a happy ending!)? Are permanently disgusted and can no longer even watch Tsubasa thanks to me? Loved it? Hated it? Are scared for life because of what happened to Ying-Fa? (Flames will be used to roast marshmallows and weenies!) Think I need to do more editing before I post chapters? Post to slow? Chapters are to short? To long? (Nothing about how I put things on hold please!) Yada, yada, yada…

Second, let me know what kind of story you would like to see next. (I only write Sakura and Syaoran pairings though, because I don't believe in KuroFai and there are enough of them!) I write all manner of things for these guys, so let me know what you want to see. I will take a few creative liberties, but I will give you credit for your idea. I will do as many as I can before I think of a new fanfic! Either put it in a review or message me. I check my fanfiction account religiously and my email collects dust!

Third, there will be no sequel… at all, so don't ask!

Fourth, I own nothing except my original characters: Kyle, Esmeralda and her twins, Setsuki, Hiruka, Cleo and Charles and I think that's everybody. I also own my plot! So there, now I can't be sued!

Fifth, check out my first ORIGINAL NOVEL! The Breaking of Poisonwood by **Paradise Avenger**. (Summary: People were dead. When Skye Davis bought me at a slave auction as a birthday present for his brother, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like, but I had never expected _this_. It all started when Venus de Luna was killed and I was to take her place, to become the new savior… Then, bad things happened and some people died. In the heart of the earth, we discovered the ancient being that Frank Davis had found and created and used to his advantage. The _Poisonwood_—)

Finally, thank you for making it this far! All the way to the end! Woot! Especially since this story was on hold for so long! Thank you making it all the way to the end! YAY!

*Fai fake whistles!*

And so, I bid you adieu.


End file.
